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A "bottleneck" refers to a feature or function that slows the progress of something. In common language narrow points on paths or stretches of highway with fewer lanes are referred to as bottlenecksor bottleneck points. See [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottleneck the wikipedia article] for more.
The term is used in gaming and especially in game economies to refer to objects or tasks that slow down the flow of goods or progress, generally placed there by developers to constrain or control player behavior. Buffs and especially [[nerfs]] can function as bottlenecks, if the developers deem the overall flow of events or gold/crafting/experience/etc gain too fast or easy for the overall good of the game or economy.