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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 4 of 4)
Alysandir Dec 29th 2007 10:34AM
The tip for a tank is dibs on any tanking drops. Same with the healer; they get dibs on healing drops.
Now, if we're talking a tank (or healer) who has absolutely nothing to gain from the place and is doing it to just be a nice person or kill time, then sure, tipping is appropriate. In that instance, it's just saying thanks for putting yourself out for us when you had nothing to gain. But that's about the only scenario I can envision tipping being something I'd do.
TheMinority Dec 29th 2007 1:54PM
If I'm tanking SV or Mech? No, I don't expect a tip.
If I'm tanking BRD or Gnomer? Yeah. I expect something in return. I don't get squat running those instances and the change that drops is barely enough to repair my belt. There'd better be some gold or a favor waiting for me after I squish that last boss.
Ramparts and Mana Tombs though are kind of touchy. Personally, I hate them and would rather tear my nose hairs out one by one. I'll go for free if it's a close friend or guildmate, but if it's just one of those grouped-with-once-and-asks-every-day-if-you-can-tank or the "plz plz plz plz plz plz plz" people, I demand payment.
Dras Dec 29th 2007 4:01PM
Ok so I`am a lvl 70 warrior in prot spec and yes repairs suck and on the war i cant farm for shit :p.So what did I do ? I rolled a mage for farming and pvp fun .
Repairs are part of the job as a tank , as a tank you should really be leading the instance run if you can ,that way you control the pulls and tell the group what to hit and when .If you wipe a lot when you lead then you deserve the bills .
Eternalpayn Dec 29th 2007 12:45PM
I will tip a tank, but not for tanking. If a prot warrior is an enchanter, I'll tip him for enchanting my gear. But for tanking, no.
Heraclea Dec 29th 2007 4:11PM
Pay me to respec my Warrior out of Fury into Prot and tank 5-mans? There isn't enough gold on the server. I know a way to have fun while tanking; it's called "City of Heroes." If it's come to the point where pickup groups are having to pay people to undertake what's supposed to be one of the key roles of a class - because it makes your character useless for any other purpose, and you have so little ability to do the job that it is no longer fun to do - then tanking really, urgently, needs to be looked at.
I wanted to tank when I came to this game from CoH, because it was a role I grew into over there. In that game, it's fun and your character really does become genuinely tough, survives stuff that kills most others ON THEIR OWN, and does decent if not top notch damage. Protection spec for a warrior in WoW is not like that at all: you still can't hold your own for a reasonable length of time, your damage plummets, you don't feel particularly durable, and compared to paladin and druid tanks you struggle constantly to keep your threat above the DPS.
Nonny Dec 29th 2007 4:12PM
I've never tipped a tank after an instance. I have loaned money before if the tank mentions they are short on cash for repairs, but I would do the same if anybody mentioned such (that said, I don't run many PUGs; these are mostly people I know).
If you're going to tip the tank to tank, then I want to be tipped for my health and soulstones, tyvm.
specs1832 Dec 29th 2007 4:22PM
Peter Ellis, have you actually looked at the durability difference between plate and cloth. Alot of times the plate will have nearly double the durability, therefore twice the cost to repair and twice the cost per wipe. Yes it's normalized to durability, but unless they normalize durability to all slots plate will always be more. Also, if you are a clothie and have a 25g repair bill, that means the tank is probably hitting 40+g. As far as tipping tanks, do what you want, it's not necessary. Even when I tank wipefests that aren't my fault I don't expect a tip, I just hope the people involved learned something about the instance/raid/their class anything really.
Lastly, SOUL SHARDS ARE FREE, so you can quit trying to use them in your argument about cost. Any warlock will have some on them for a raid and likely pick up more as you clear trash.
theRaptor Dec 29th 2007 8:36PM
Time is not free. And no locks aren't getting heaps on trash, unless they changed it from happening only on a killing blow, like it was when I was a lock.
Eternalpayn Dec 29th 2007 10:12PM
Twice the durability = twice the time between repairs.
Also, most PUG tanks suck... they should be paying me for my repairs they cause as a rogue.
Amanda Dec 31st 2007 12:00AM
This question is sorta...stupid...
As much as I'd like to get paid to heal...
What starts with a tip turns into fees. Fees to get healers, fees to get tanks. Fees to invite someone because they have Enchanting.
Fees for tables, SS, Ankh, raid buffs, battle rez.
You people might not see the connection, but tanking is a key point in a group. As is healing... Buffs, battle rez and such are just extras, but people will see that as a quick gold.
I won't ever tip a tank, and I won't ever expect a tip to heal or tank.
specs1832 Dec 31st 2007 1:55PM
Well seeing how you probably play WoW in your free time, I would argue that your time is free. Also, how hard is it to farm some shards, takes ya a couple minutes maybe, I said you would get some shards on a run from trash, not heaps.
Twice the durability does not equal twice the time to repair. A tank will take normal wear and tear from holding aggro, and a wipe is 10% durability loss regardless of how much durability you have. So more often then not the tank will need to repair before you.
Would just like to reinterate that I'm not for tipping tanks, just trying to clear up some of you misconceptions about plate.
thunder Dec 31st 2007 2:10PM
I think blizzard needs to analyze the gold income/spent of every class in every pve/pvp situation and determine a way of balancing income. I think that they have done it to a degree by designing the daily quests somewhat easier for tanks... but the profit/time is still very one sided.
(dailies are easier for tanks because tanks cannot be dazed if they have 490 defense, therefor not knocked off their mounts in skettis, and have more health which helps in surviving flak cannons. Can take hits from an aggro'd mob while doing apex without stopping, and rarely kill the aether rays by accident, its generally easy to find a group to run daily instance/heroic as a tank)
Still, the profits are nowhere near as high as playing a DPS class.
Tyr Dec 31st 2007 5:56PM
This is the stupidest thing I have ever read. First of all I have a lvl 70 Warrior, Hunter, and Mage. Wanna guess which one it is more expensive to run with. It sure as hell isn`t the warrior. A long time it used to cost more to repair plate but they have sence evened it out and it is now based on your quality of gear. Hence epics cost more. It cost more for my mage to repair then my warrior now as he is my main and in tier 5 and my warrior is only in tier 4. The only time I would ever tip someone is if they never planned to do the run in the first place but came to help anyways, I`ll help them if we wipe. Thats it tiping warriors Geesh, why don`t you tip the rogues for thier poison, hunters for thier arrows...
Kahawai Jan 20th 2008 4:01PM
Tip for tanking? Bad idea. Tanks don't need tips, they just need to be obeyed :)
When I tank with a PuG, if we wipe more than a couple of times on stuff I know we should be able to handle (unless it's my fault) I just leave group and get a free hearth.
Clean runs without wipes are satisfaction enough.