Selling Tanking Services

[Tsarez]

it's the opposite my dude, as the content ages and becomes more outdated and unnecessary, it'll be harder and harder to find tanks willing to do content they don't need without a little $ incentive.

This is how i paid for all of my raid supplies through the entirety of classic classic, and it's even more of a tank shortage in TBC meaning the gold will flow in. It will get worse, not better. Launch month is literally as good as it's going to get in regards to finding tanks

I think the drought will set in mid way. Very early it was easier because of the no life rushers, now it's a bit hard but in the next few days and weeks you'll have the "normie" tanks hitting 70. They will be running for some time until they have all they need. By phase 2 and beyond it will again be impossible to find them without paying them, that I would agree on.

[Dhrizzle]

You do what you feel is best mate. But in general, if any role suddenly starts asking for money to do shit then the game is dead imo. Imagine needing a certain role for content and everyone of that role started to ask for gold for doing it, then they are in essential holding that content hostage. But you do you man, I know repairs suck as a tank.

TIL yet another reason the game died back in Vanilla.

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I think the drought will set in mid way. Very early it was easier because of the no life rushers, now it's a bit hard but in the next few days and weeks you'll have the "normie" tanks hitting 70. They will be running for some time until they have all they need. By phase 2 and beyond it will again be impossible to find them without paying them, that I would agree on.

At some point there'll be DPS dudes with enough off-spec gear to reliably tank heroics and they should really start picking up when Zul'Farrak launches as I remember it coming with some pretty sweet gear for badges. Then there'll be Pally tanks geared enough to allow AoE runs (it takes a particular combo of tanking, melee and spell DPS gear to be able to survive and hold aggro) 'though at that point you'd be best being a warlock or a mage.

[Tsarez]

You do what you feel is best mate. But in general, if any role suddenly starts asking for money to do shit then the game is dead imo. Imagine needing a certain role for content and everyone of that role started to ask for gold for doing it, then they are in essential holding that content hostage. But you do you man, I know repairs suck as a tank.

You should see it more like a player driven incentive. Lfg has it as well, where the role needed the most would be gifted gold and materials for the queue.

As long as the prices remain realistic and don't enter whale territory, all is fine. Who could not afford to pay a dude 20 gold for their support? That's 80 gold per run for the tank. Sounds reasonable to me. I would even go higher if the tank completely destroys the dungeon cutting the time for the run by a relevant margin.

[ellieg]

You should see it more like a player driven incentive. Lfg has it as well, where the role needed the most would be gifted gold and materials for the queue.

As long as the prices remain realistic and don't enter whale territory, all is fine. Who could not afford to pay a dude 20 gold for their support? That's 80 gold per run for the tank. Sounds reasonable to me. I would even go higher if the tank completely destroys the dungeon cutting the time for the run by a relevant margin.

I think the worst situation is when leader and maybe 1 other want to pay a tank, and the other 2 don't and would rather wait a little longer. Then u gotta decide what to do lol

[justandulas]

I think the worst situation is when leader and maybe 1 other want to pay a tank, and the other 2 don't and would rather wait a little longer. Then u gotta decide what to do lol

simple, you replace the dps or healer with 2 people who will. the number of people willing to pay vastly overnumbers those not.

do you value your time? pay the tank. Or you could wait and roll the dice.

[anon5123]

It's scummy but I don't blame people for paying it when 90% of LFG is "LF1M tank".

[aeuhe4yxzhds]

I get at minimum 10 whispers every evening asking me to tank their heroic/dungeon. I tell them, 100g, sometimes they accept but most of the times they go onto the next player.

You're asking me to do something that I don't have to do, I am exalted w. everything, I have all badge loot, so I want gold.

You must be a great guildie

[WaltherLeopold]

You must be a great guildie

The whole point was that, it's randoms whispering me, not guildies.

[roboscorcher]

I get at minimum 10 whispers every evening asking me to tank their heroic/dungeon. I tell them, 100g, sometimes they accept but most of the times they go onto the next player.

You're asking me to do something that I don't have to do, I am exalted w. everything, I have all badge loot, so I want gold.

That's totally reasonable TBH. You have experience, and have nothing else to gain from the run. The price is too high for me, but if I was rich, I'd totally pay for a good tank if it means a smooth experience.

It's worth mentioning here that tanks dictate the smoothness of the run, more than any other role. They need to mark, LoS, ask for CCs, check healer mana, maintain threat, etc. The main reason I haven't switched from Ret to Prot is because I don't want to handle all these responsibilities until I experience all the dungeon mechanics as dps.

[Ryzeth]

I'm guessing half of the people in this thread can't get tanks. Incidentally, the same ones being horribly toxic towards people who do this.

This would be equivalent to getting mad at tailors for selling their spellcloth cooldowns. They're not obliged to give you it for free, just because you provide the mats for it. It's the same with tanking: If you're wanting me to use my time to help you, when I don't otherwise need anything from that dungeon, yeah you can pay me. Or I'll just offer my service to one of the many other groups who will.

If you don't like it, well...
a) I don't care.
b) Enjoy waiting for someone who will do what you want for nothing.
c) Roll a tank class and do it yourself.

If you're not someone I personally know, then I'm not obliged to help you with squat. Certainly not for free. Take your shithole attitude elsewhere, thanks.

[Unholyground]

If you are advertising it grow a fucking pair and deal with the backlash, if people didn't care they wouldn't say anything to you, so obviously they care OP.

[ozzynclyde]

You're welcome to do that, I'm not someone who will ever pay for it in a dungeon setting......maybeeee a group quest where it literally may take days to find a group to complete. Not saying you do, but I feel like people act as if it's a chore to be a tank and a price should be paid when I argue it's the most active and fun thing to do in a group. I'm not going to pay someone to perform a role they've chosen to be and I'm not going to believe the overblown THERE'S NO TANKS argument when I have yet to take over 10 minutes to form a group for any dungeon.

As a tank, I've never consistently lost money in dungeons when the amount of greys, greens, and other drops more than create a profit per run. I'm really not sure what you're doing wrong on this front.

[chrisnumbers]

I see a lot of cry baby entitlement on both sides of this argument.
Just accept the fact that anyone can attempt to charge others for their time, and anyone else can decline. It really is that simple. If you don't like it, you can move on and find someone who does.

[Pigy2]

I got about halfway through your initial post before I felt the need to call bullshit.

"I am losing more and more money ending each day at a loss."

Bullshit.
Unless you're actively wiping 15 times each dungeon there is no way the gold gained from vendor/AH/drops/daily quest does not outweigh the cost of repair bills.
You may well be operating at a loss cause you're investing in gems/enchants/whatever, but I'll eat my fucking shoes on stream if your dungeon runs are not profitable as a pre-raid BiS geared tank.

As for selling tank services? - There are no tanks, if people wish to sell themselves go ahead. My only requirement is if you sell it like it's a service you better know the dungeon, know the pulls and know your class well. If you're an average joe fuck off with that shit.

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TIL yet another reason the game died back in Vanilla.

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At some point there'll be DPS dudes with enough off-spec gear to reliably tank heroics

Not necessarily, Look around for the usual DPS who would indeed say "fuck this, there are no tanks I'll just tank". It doesn't happen because they don't exist.
I can count on one hand the amount of Fury Warriors/Feral Druids/Ret Paladins i've ran dungeons with since I dinged about 2 weeks ago.
The melee exodus hits hard.

[Frolk]

If ur good at something, dont do it for free.

You could do simple things like, reserve green/blue BoE drops as payment

Or reserve the primal nether, bit tricky to enforce with randoms unless they trust u with master loot or u trust em to pass on it at the end with group loot.

Or straight up 50-75g payment upfront.

Personally, if i get enough gear and demand is still big, ill try reserve greens, if that fails ill go for upfront gold payment.

For people hating on the idea, go lvl up a tank on ur own.

[owbu]

People need herbs so they buy herbs from players who invested their time into gathering herbs.
People like to level fast so they pay a mage to boost them.
People need tanks, so they pay a tank to tank for them.

Supply and demand, if someone doesn't want to participate they can look for a tank that still needs stuff from the place they are going to.

[thunderdragon2]

if i was looking for a tank in tbc if i was playing again my 1 requirement would be to do the dungeon i don't trust them not be to scumbags and not intentionally wipe the grp and leave with the gold i cba with scumbags, if they don't want to wait till end of dungeon the can go try and scam some1 else had it happen too many times levelling in classic

[justandulas]

if i was looking for a tank in tbc if i was playing again my 1 requirement would be to do the dungeon i don't trust them not be to scumbags and not intentionally wipe the grp and leave with the gold i cba with scumbags, if they don't want to wait till end of dungeon the can go try and scam some1 else had it happen too many times levelling in classic

the reverse is also true, and tanks have to worry about people not paying at the end of a successful run cuz the incentive is gone. I offer the gold back if we don't clear, but money is up front.

[thunderdragon2]

the reverse is also true, and tanks have to worry about people not paying at the end of a successful run cuz the incentive is gone. I offer the gold back if we don't clear, but money is up front.

sadly you are just 1 person...... there are many more tanks waiting to rip you off.....

[MoanaLisa]

Feel free to charge what the market will bear. It's within the rules.

I personally would never pay it but there's nothing outright wrong with this.

Or:

Play the game you want to play. Make yourself available only on certain days leaving most of the rest of your sessions for professions and whatever else you want to do.

You don't have to accept every request and you shouldn't if it's messing with your game.