nerfs vs buffs in game design

it’s a fact:
gamers hate nerfs.
they love buffs.

..now there’s clearly more nuance to that
than just those two statements, but for the
most part, especially in PvE games, people
far more enjoy buffs than nerfs from gamedevs.

so why do developers nerf stats?
i have no idea. if i knew the answer to that,
do you think i would be writing a post like this?\

it blows. maybe they hate the way the meta
has evolved and they want to give other things
a chance to shine? the usual argument there is
then, just, fucking buff the weapons that are bad.

space marine 2 recently went through this with
their most recent update introducing the new operation,
and they nerfed some guns that people really liked
while not buffing the guns that people WANTED to like.

so, yeah. not exactly excited to return to space marine 2.
where do i stand on the issue? i largely prefer buffs.
it seems every gamedev was taught somewhere to lean towards
nerfs before buffs, in some philosophical school of game design,
but as a player, i love when everything is overpowered.

thanks for reading today’s post.
at least the marines still look badass..