The “Nerf” is term used to describe the weakening of a large amount of troops by the game because someone has too high of a Troop ratio between T1 and T2, to T3 or T4.
When Trap Accounts were first invented, they relied off of training a MASSIVE amount of less costly low tiered Troops to defeat a solo March or Rally March from an enemy. For example, this is what a Battle Report from Trap Account might look like:
Trap Accounts were so successful when they were invented that players started converting their accounts to traps like wildfire. It was a viral phenomenon in Game of War, and still is. No matter how big your account is, or what Gear you have, Trap Accounts will always be a viable option for defense.
Game of War saw certain Trap Accounts flourishing and didn’t think it was healthy for the game. Within 2 months after advent of Trap Accounts, they were Nerfed… badly.
It’s still true to this day that that is the only event in history where Game of War has ever publicly Nerfed a part of the game. Since then the only adjustments in the game have been made via offering Gear or Troops that holds differing strengths and weaknesses.
The first time I wrote on Trap Accounts, I recommended that Alliances who had players with Trap Accounts should cannibalize them to avoid losing points during a KvK from an enemy attack. At the time it was very unclear what the limitations were for how many T1 or T2 can be trained, but it’s a lot more clear now.
As always, I still recommend that new traps are tested by allowing their own Alliance to hit them before trying out the account in a KvK. You want to make sure your Trap Account actually works, or your Kingdom could have a more difficult time winning in a KvK.
In the blog post picture above from Game of War, they mention that they only nerfed “116 accounts out of the tens of millions of Game of War players,” even though there were probably thousands of Trap Accounts at the time. The reality is the other ones were not in violation of the Nerfing formula.
A few players sent support tickets in to get more information, but of course were not given a clear answer on what the limits are.
Game of War saying, "We did Nerf the T1 troops, however, you can still be overwhelmed by them."
Snippet of a conversation with Game of War, "Nerfing means that we make troops less effective, but not entirely ineffective, as this would not be fair to players who only have access to T1 troops while they are still growing."
Here’s what happens to a Nerfed account when it is hit.
Battle Report of T1 account getting hit after the nerf. OUCH.
Here's another Battle Report after someone's account was Nerfed.
The Nerf is not something to take lightly. You can spend a lot of time and money building a Trap Account only to have it zeroed after two hits.
On the other hand, you can use the Nerf to deceive your foes.
A friend of mine changed his banner to “nerf :(” so enemies think he’s sad about it. Then they send 5 full marches of T4 at him while they read the report of the first March (which says they all died). The other Marches all get eaten too and he gets tons of points every KvK.
Continue on in the mini-series to see how to avoid getting Nerfed.
Article 1: What is the Nerf & Why is it Important?
Article 2: Coming Soon (updating and improving these two articles: How to beat the nerf | Cheating the nerf perfectly )
Check out our Battle Report Forum to see all kinds of crazy hits, and upload your best hits while you are over there!
Enjoy!
Navi
