Number of tanks to recruit?

[TitanPrime]

I think this is the right place to post this...

I’m looking for some advice on the number of tanks for a 10 man guild.

We are a 10 man guild who raid 3 nights a week for 2 1/2 hours with current progression at 7/12. I’ve been acting as the defacto RL and am an officer, but not the GM.

Currently we have myself as a prot warrior, a feral tank who has just successfully completed a trial and a Paladin tank who is on trial. (We also have 1 off spec warrior). To me this seems like the right number of tanks for a 10 man guild giving spares, but not over rotating people.

However, yesterday we had an additional paladin tank apply (they are not an exceptional applicant). My though is that we should decline as we have sufficient tanks; however I seem to be getting push back from some of the other officers which has surprised me. I’m looking for a sense check as to whether 3 tanks sounds reasonable? And perhaps some advice from guilds/RLs who are in a similar position?

[Damango]

in my head i say three =
1 MT
1 OT with a DPS OS
1 Backup - like a Druid / DK / pally - someone who can switch

its better to have exp tanks than have a possible bad come in from a pug - its much easier to carry a 2k lower DPS than usual, instead of pulling this new tank around. 3 in a perfect world

[Pruke]

I agree, as I primarily raid 10 mans having 3 tanks to me is the most I would want to carry on a roster. There is no way to plan ahead for someone to quit or have a computer or internet problem. Granted you could try out the newest applicant and let the current trial tank know that it will come down to picking one. It's just hard, you can't carry to many of any type spec unless you intend to do rotating players each raid night.