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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsAsk WoW Insider: Do you tip your tank?
by Barb Dybwad 
Dec 28th 2007 at 8:00PM
Welcome to today's edition of Ask WoW Insider, in which we publish your questions for dissection by the peanut gallery. Last time we discussed identification with your virtual self, and this time we turn our attention once again to an issue of instance etiquette; James wants to know if it should be customary to tip your tank after a run: Hey guys,
I was wondering if there is some standard etiquette for tipping your main tank after instances. The repair bill for our much-loved meat shields is usually much higher than the bill for me and my clothy brethren, so I'm curious if most PUG's will throw the MT a few gold after a run. To be honest, I don't normally tip the MT (and in my experience, they don't expect one) but is this something we should do? If so, what's a good amount?
What's the verdict: do you tip your tanks, or do they not deserve the special treatment? Are there any circumstances in which you'd feel more likely to tip? What's a reasonable amount, and does it vary by instance?
Got questions? Don't wait! Send them to us at ask AT wowinsider DOT com and your query could be up in lights here next week.
Filed under: Instances, Ask WoW Insider
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Dean Dec 28th 2007 11:35PM
"I think instead blizzard should make repaircosts the same on all armortypes"
The sort of are already. Major misconception about WoW No.63 (seriously, this is the next collumn I'm pitching to you guys): Repair costs are based on the type of armour being repaired.
This was changed way back in patch 1.8. All repair costs are based on durability. Now it's true that plate tends to have more durability than cloth, and so losing 10% on death is slightly more but it's far far less than people make it out to be. There's also the fact that warriors get hit more so lose a little there, but really it's the difference between 25g or 30g repairs rather than it being double or something crazy.
Of course, it might seem like more, especially if you do as some of the posters are suggesting and gear up your tanks first as guess what? Better gear has more durability and hence costs more to repair. So if you give all those shiney new epics to the tank, he's gonna have to pay more to repair them.
SirMadden Dec 29th 2007 6:41AM
If we have anyone who can enchant the MT automatically gets a shard for any loot no one wants and if we dont, the MT automatically gets all the loot to pay for his/her repair bills
imtraum Dec 28th 2007 11:54PM
Unless it's a really horrible run, the tank is going to make up the cost of repairs...easily...in drops. It's a nice idea, but not at all necessary. I tank as Druid and Warrior and would think it was silly if someone tried to tip me for doing what I signed up for.
It'd be like paying a Hunter for DPSing in an instance. Which, on my Hunter, I'd never dream of demanding, even though I use some pretty expensive arrows in instances to make things go smoother.
On, a side note, people who are claiming Warriors are cheap to play are just being silly. Warrior is one of the most gear-dependent classes, and you're always having to swap gear out to be effective. A lot of classes can get by with sub-par gear, but a Warrior's always going to have to stay on top of theirs unless they want to spend most of their gametime making corpse runs. But, obviously, that's part of the choice and shouldn't factor in to whether you tip the tank or not. Just pointing out a flaw in a lot of arguments about Warriors being cheap.
Eyeon Dec 29th 2007 12:20AM
im amazed at everyone who equates tank to warrior(and the occasional druid). pallys exist to you know...
Ben Dec 29th 2007 12:45AM
I've been on a number of runs where the disenchanter insisted on giving the tank (usually me) the first shard. While I never EXPECT that sort of treatment, it's always nice: it means I at least break even on the run.
Consumables are irrelevent, as a tank is going to be burning through them at the same rate as mana users.
What IS relevent is repair costs. If your tank is wearing any purple plate at all they're looking at around 5-6g per wipe and a base 3-4g minimum (for normal durability loss).
Spare us the tirades about the "wipes tanks cause". Splitting my play time pretty evenly between tank, healer, and dps roles: good dps can cover for an awful tank in most cases. The reverse is rarely true. Whether it's a druid, paladin, or warrior, many of the defining "tank skills" are "I push this when you screwed up".
Dave Dec 29th 2007 2:36PM
as a tank and DPS, DPS causes way way way more wipes than they "save" due to good DPS.
Good healing saves wipes, good tanking saves wipes, good DPS usually just saves their own asses once the tank and/or healers have gone down. It's not really saving much but your own skin and repair bills at that point. Tanks and healers are out to save everyone's butts. Thats the fundamental difference.
Yes, you may consider it "saving a wipe" when the hunter, mage and warlock don't die... but that's a pretty crap way to look at it. Usually if the healer goes down, the tank dies. If the tank dies, the healer's usually the first to eat it after that. Just because the whole group doesn't die, doesn't mean it's not a wipe, or a problem.
Avery Dec 29th 2007 1:08AM
I've never tipped a tank. I have only ONCE ever given money to a group as well, and they were all friends. (I was healing the run late at night and needless to say my mind was not on the game at all causing several wipes).
I have been offered tips before (for healing) but I generally turn those down. I'll do my job if you'll do yours. If you do your job well, then you'll find your way to my friends list and I'll try my best to get you on as many smooth runs with me as possible (that you need anyway). I'd rather make it on to someones friends list as a good player than get a 5g tip.
Sophey Dec 29th 2007 1:09AM
I think you missed my point. As a melee dps, I do my job and I do it well. I take credit for it when I do wrong. I'm not going to tip the tank for his doing his job right too. Further, does the tank ever thank or even realize that he didn't die to diseases in heroic Underbog, not because the healer is healing him well but because I'm laying disease cleansing totem and manually cleansing him when it doesn't tick fast enough. That his aggro gain is higher with WF totem or that key dodge came because of the GoA giving him an extra point or two of dodge. Of course not, but I'm doing my job which is melee dps and group support.
While tanks do lose durability due to more hit, the vast majority of that goes into their shield, it isn't split between their armor as a whole. So their faster durability loss really only applies to that one item. As a 25-man raid leader though, 6/6 SSC and 3/4 TK. I have never seen a tank need to repair when at least one other person in the raid who had died the same amount of times needed to repair as well. Both having repaired before the run.
Calaana Dec 29th 2007 2:07AM
I play a tank and a healer, and the only time I've taken a tip for either job was when the group failed hard and I was getting a stupid amount of durability loss due to wipes. That said I'll more than likely tip someone if they do an amazing job.
Zumacrume Dec 29th 2007 2:16AM
Worst idea ever. If you're a tank and want to run something, don't expect a tip. You don't like the repair bills? roll a priest or something. The fact that instance running should be a fun thing and not a job where you come out on the bottom is the main thing. So to every tank expecting a tip: QQ more noob.
Hoggersbud Dec 29th 2007 3:12AM
No, but then I either Pug, or ask a guild-mate. For the first, I'm not paying you to do something you wanted to do. For the other? I contribute to the guild with plenty of mats and other stuff.
Falconous Dec 29th 2007 3:23AM
Everyone knows that tanks have high repair bills. Its part of the class. Just like rogues need to buy regeants, hunters need pet food and warlocks need soul shards.
Everyone knows this when they roll a tank.
If they have a problem with this they should not play a tank.
Dah Dec 29th 2007 3:30PM
Clothies have lesser repair bills, but we still have the cost of reagents. Admittedly this still isn't as much as what a tank has to pay, but I don't think the difference merits a tip. Besides, tanks get first dibs on lewts.
Peter Ellis Dec 29th 2007 6:36AM
The premise of this post is incorrect. Tanks do not have a much higher repair bill. It is a pervasive myth that plate costs more to repair than other armor types, dating back to the early days of WoW. In reality, since patch 1.8, repair fees have been equalised for all armor types.
A tank will suffer fractionally more durability loss than other classes, since they take more hits. However, the vast majority of your repair bill comes from deaths. If the tank dies, everybody dies - and so the costs are kept equal between tank, healer and DPS. Indeed, if you have a bad tank who can't hold aggro, (or bad DPS that don't know when to hold back), the DPS may end up dying several times more than the tank, and thus have higher repair bills. Healers, not so much, because once again - if the healer dies, everybody dies.
Finally, as pointed out by others above, repair costs are a very small proportion of total costs.
Summary: You should no more tip a tank for tanking than a mage for casting spells, or a rogue for hitting things.
roger3 Dec 31st 2007 9:14AM
This is incorrect.
Peter Ellis (post 47) said:
"Tanks do not have a much higher repair bill. It is a pervasive myth that plate costs more to repair than other armor types, dating back to the early days of WoW. In reality, since patch 1.8, repair fees have been equalised for all armor types."
What was equalized was the cost to repair per point of durability. Let's look at T4 armor sets: Chest for mage: 100 durability. Chest for Warrior: 165 durability. If a mage dies, they take 10 durability damage. Warriors take 16.5. Repair costs for tanks are on average 40-50% more than clothies, slightly higher if you take into account use and abuse from the mobs beating on you.
If your clothie has a 20g repair bill, the Tank has a 30g one.
Nosophoros Dec 29th 2007 7:40AM
Never heard of that, and neither would I want it. I'm a tank myself, and I just accept it comes with the job. It's what you chose for- the downside to loads of appreciation from a good guild, if you will.
AToomah Jan 5th 2008 12:59PM
While I've never been tipped, and never really expected it, there have been two instances where I've been seriously told by hunters (not after wipes or anything, just when we're trucking through a dungeon) that, unless they receive some sort of payment for their services, they'll be scaling down their DPS to save money on bullets. I don't know what bullets cost, but I can't possibly imagine it's more than my 20g-ish repair bill/run. Needless to say, our poor friends were immediately replaced by other easily-found "thankless" DPS-ers.
Theserene Dec 29th 2007 8:35AM
I don't tip them, but I do go fishing before the run and get plenty of Crawdads and Golden Darters to make munchies for the tanks and healers.
Diaz Dec 29th 2007 9:37AM
I'll tip, but us rogues get to keep everything in locked chests.
Razhlok Dec 29th 2007 9:48AM
Absolutely not! Higher repair bills comes with the territory of being a tank. As a hunter I have to continiously purchase pet food, fel mana potions and arrows (Mysterious Arrows sell for 80s/Stack). Healers and casters need reagents for group buffs and stacks of mana potions. All those expenses come with the territory.