How Chinese Gold Farmers Make Gold - Part 1 - Karazhan

If you've ever farmed Karazhan actively, you've most likely noticed multiple suspicious characters coming out of the instance and getting back in (usually through solid objects, shame on you gold sellers) in a quite repetitive manner. Ever wondered what they were up to?

Image source: nextnature.net

No hacks allowed!
Because I'm not a Chinese gold seller, I'm can't say my assumptions are 100% right. Hacks are included in what they do, but I'll give the approved by Blizzard way instead. Usually gold sellers use hacked accounts for this and automate the process with 3rd party programs. If you attempt this method and see this filth, you should report them right away!

Since I assume no hack can reset boss kills in a raid instance in the time they take to re-enter the instance, they have to focus on things that do not make you saved. There are no containers in the instance that would make you rich, so they must focus on NPCs. The first mobs that come to mind would be the non-elites in the ballroom and in Moroes' room. I would have guessed Philanthrophists near the opera area first if only they weren't nerfed in the past.

Killing these takes no longer than 7 minutes. Less if you're decently geared, more if your gear is crap. Looting takes longer than the killing though, as there's a LOT of them.

Ni hao
I gave it a try and cleared the first 2 rooms in Karazhan (Ballroom and Moroes' room) and left Moroes standing naturally so I won't get saved. It took about 16 minutes to do it two times on my tank toon that does not have epics.

Note that pro gold farmers sell their loot as it is and do not utilize professions like I do. They want the gold fast, even if it's ten times less than they would get with a small time investment.

Here's the loot I received! Prices are from my realm, not yours most likely!

• 79 gold from silver drops


• 29 gold from junk items like grays, potions and food


• 8½ stacks of Netherweave Cloth, which I will turn into Netherweave Bags - 35g x 8 = 280g


• 1 x Khorium Lockbox - Roughly worth 15g


• 33 x Arcane Dust from greenies - Sells for 61g


• 10 x Greater Planar Essence - Sells for 144g


• 1 x Large Prismatic Shard - Sells for 4g


• 38 x Soul Essence - Sells for 38g. These are rarely needed so it's safe to vendor them for a bit less.


• 1 x Epic Plans (BOE) - Sells for 4000g - Because these rely purely on RNG, I shouldn't even mention this. But the fact remains, the more mobs you kill, the bigger chances you have of finding such items.


• 1 x Darkmoon Card - Sells for 90g

As you can see, even without hacks you can still make as much gold as gold sellers. Mainly because they sell their loot "raw" and do not make their items more valuabe with a profession in most cases.

Nab farmer? Here be protips
- Loot faster! Turn on autolooting to make your gold making 3x faster
- Bags full? There's a vendor outside the instance and another one in the stables next to Midnight

Some of these bots had loot 25000g achievements and they haven't been level 80-85 for more than a week. After checking out what they have been up to, most of them had a crapload of Warp Splinter kills in Botanica for example, so I guess I'll have to take a look at that place next.