Gold bids, service fees and free tanks: where players draw the line on paid raid services

"I'm asking this question because we really need clarity," Eiren wrote on the EU forums on 1 November. GDKP, they accept, isn't allowed. What they want to know is how far that goes, and a related argument about charging for tanking ran on Reddit a few days earlier.

Two arrangements that aren't GDKP

Eiren asked about what they call Gbid. In their example, a raid organizer reserves certain items, such as the Heart of Hakkar or some of the idols in ZG, sells them for gold bids, and keeps the proceeds as payment for organizing and tanking. By their definition the proceeds aren't distributed among the entire raid, which is what they say separates it from GDKP. Ayurox wasn't impressed: "Gbid to me is just a other name for gdkp". Either way, someone is paying gold for an item.

Then Eiren raised a second model: a fixed service fee, collected before the raid, for organizing and tanking it. Here Ayurox drew a distinction: "Asking money for tanking service is not equal to paying for an item in gold." But their overall read is that Blizzard is heading towards not allowing gold for any form of boosting. Answering another player's worry that this would drive gold buying, Eiren said that by that logic the Auction House should shut down too.

Neither of them has an answer from Blizzard. Those replies are players' guesses at a rule, and we aren't telling you either arrangement is allowed. If you're planning to run one, Eiren's request for clarity stands.

The older argument about what a tank owes

A few days earlier, the same line came up in a 29 October Reddit thread from a player who always struggles for gold. Doopals said people will pay, but charging always struck them as a poor move. A bear tank main, they have never asked for gold or for drops nobody else wanted. A tank's reward, in their view, is being able to find or form a group immediately. There's no shame in others charging, they added, but it feels like it cuts against the community side of an MMO.

bickdickanivia drew the line in a different place. Charging for a dungeon you'd run anyway struck them as strange, since you're benefiting too. If they were far overgeared and needed nothing, though, they could be convinced to come along for some gold. Gold__Pipe recalled advertising their own groups for Stratholme live runs while keeping particular loot, with the terms stated upfront.

Put together, that's three different tests: what the money buys, who benefits, and what everyone agreed to before the pull. They are players' views and memories, and none of it describes what Forever actually permits. For the choices a guild can settle itself, see our guide to loot rules before the first raid.