This guide pertains to the laundering of gold. Bot used is not specified.
One of the biggest things you see in the world of botting is a new person who comes along, fails to follow what a veteran may have told them, and get their main account banned. Of course, the first thing they do is run to whatever company may have sold them this bot and complain.
Im here to tell you to shut up. No one really wants to hear it. If you are smart, you can survive most bans and go on to make this program work well for you. Im going to attempt to teach you how.. kinda.
First things first.
A lot of things about botting are learned as you go. Setup becomes easier. You learn the market a lot better. You learn what sorts of people to target when trying to make a profit. Asking questions about these things is kinda like asking a Gun expert how to shoot, AND hit a target. All they're gonna tell ya is the basics. Gotta learn the rest on your own.
Getting Started
Now, this is assuming you know how to use the bot and have successfully started farming. You're going to quickly learn a couple things:
1) Bots are like children in a certain tense. You can't leave them alone long without them doing something dumb.
2) You need a lot of room for all of these materials (ore/herbs/leather/volatiles) that you are suddenly acquiring.
3) Markets are fickle. Therefore, making money takes a bit of work.
4) Your limits.
There are ways to counter all of this though. Through the help of a lot of the mods on this site and some really great guides on the site before this one, I have learned ways to counteract a lot of the negatives that can arise from botting.
Account Safety
There are many ways to safeguard your account while you bot. HOWEVER: NEVER BOT ON AN ACCOUNT YOU ARE NOT PREPARED TO LOSE That means, do not bot on your account that you have full epics and 6 legendaries on. You will want to kick your own ass if you do that.
If you are smart, you can fund your own account and not lose it. I know this because I have had the same main account since WoW released. I have lost 4 botting accounts in that time. Never my main.
Here are some tips (more to come in the future):
1) Keep your botting account under another name that is not tied to your account. Generally Blizzard will not ban an entire surname of accounts but it always pays to be safe.
- The only exception I make to this rule is this: If you have a wife, brother, etc with the same last name, you can put the account under their name. Generally this will result in an account ban that you MAY be able to reverse since you will be able to provide ownership proof of ID, etc. This is rare but sometimes works.
2) VPN (Virtual Proxy Network) Learn it. Live it. Love it. Some routers have them built in. Some do not. You can also use some very generously priced companies on the internet. What do this do?
To be blunt, it makes Blizzard think that your account is being accessed from another place that is not your IP. It re-routes your IP through another source. How does this help? Well aside from keeping your IP safe, it allows you to say you were hacked and that they used your account for bad and nasty things OH MY!
3) Do NOT associate your botting account with your main playing account in any way.
4) Do NOT advertise to people you know that you bot.
5) Never discuss botting in the game. EVER.
6) Do NOT advertise the amount of money you are making to guildies and friends. Jealousy goes far even in games. Anti-Cheating sentiment is also rather large.
7) Use that 10lb thing on your shoulders. God (Allah, Buddah, The Earthmother) put it there for a reason. Plain and simple. Think before you do something dumb.
Now, that's just a few tips on how to protect your account. There are literally hundreds of debated ways on how to hide from Blizzard, etc. Most are just substantiated and we do not know if they work. Therefore, not gonna include them here.
Storage of Goods
Now, up top I mentioned how you were going to find yourself with a ton of materials. Easiest AND safest way to store them? Guild Banks.
You can acquire these by making them or buy spamming trade. I prefer the latter. It allows me to reserve a name that has been around for a bit and also generally already has tabs bought out in the bank. If you're really lucky, you can get them for free.
The convenience of these banks is that you can use them to link multiple accounts (Ex: Your Main acct & Botting acct) without generally raising the suspicion of Blizzard. It also allows you to instantly move around your goods. An example:
***** Additional Clause *****
A lot of people have contacted me in confusion as to whether or not you can bot on two different accounts but still have them connected via a Battle.Net account. The accounts CANNOT be on the same Battle.Net account or they will both be banned.
**Please scroll down for additional visual references provided by other members**
Account 1 (Main)
Main: This toon should hold no connection to your botting account. No direct trades. No tells. No nothin.
Mule 1: This should be the GM of your Gbank. Same account as your main. I would HIGHLY suggest having an authenticator on this account.
Account 2 (Botting Account)
Mule 2: This toon should have access to DEPOSIT only into your Gbank. This saves your ass if someone decides to hack your account that you bot on since most people don't authenticate their botting account.
Additional Images
Provided by: Jester
Provided by: Hack0si
Botting Toon: Your farmer. Put it in a guild. Find that guild on your server with 700 members are get yourself an invite. Why? It makes us look like some noob farming so we can do some fail raiding or make some money. An unguilded toon farming the same area makes me think bot. How about you?
Guilds for your botting toon can be helpful as well due to perks released in Cata. Improved speed, Gathering, etc. If you're really lucky, you may even get one that funds repairs for your bot. Keep an eye out.
Tips for this:
*NEVER associate with or talk about (with anyone) the association of your botting account as it pertains to your main account. GMs can and WILL go back to check logs of you saying shit.
*Don't get lazy. Never trade directly between your two accounts. Mail your product to the guilded toon on your botting account.
Now, once you have setup your Gbank and you are selling your product, that is when you start to make some real gold.
Silverbolt: How to sell my gold? : Coming Soon