Development Environment

[PanicDK]

Hopefully this isn't considered a completely retarded question.
I've got a lot of experience with C++ & Python, but I'm completely new to reversing. I did some searching, but couldn't find any information on a recommended development environment. I figure that if I'm just getting started I'm bound to do quite a few things that will get detected - I'd like to not get my primary account banned.

I just ordered a new x79 mobo w/ 32GB ddr3 & 2nd gen i7. I'm thinking I'll run WoW in a VM (never tried this before, hoping it's doable) and in that VM set up a restrictive firewall that only allows TOR traffic out, then force everything through TOR. Does this sound like a legitimate idea? Any suggestions for something better?

[~Unknown~]

Hopefully this isn't considered a completely retarded question.
I've got a lot of experience with C++ & Python, but I'm completely new to reversing. I did some searching, but couldn't find any information on a recommended development environment. I figure that if I'm just getting started I'm bound to do quite a few things that will get detected - I'd like to not get my primary account banned.

I just ordered a new x79 mobo w/ 32GB ddr3 & 2nd gen i7. I'm thinking I'll run WoW in a VM (never tried this before, hoping it's doable) and in that VM set up a restrictive firewall that only allows TOR traffic out, then force everything through TOR. Does this sound like a legitimate idea? Any suggestions for something better?

Your question is a bit unclear. Development environment as in what programs to reverse with or the setup you mention at the end? Running WoW in a VM and using TOR is way overkill. If you're doing private work you can reverse wherever since warden isn't going to care about the VM as far as tying what it finds to your account. If you want to be safe just use a trial account for doing anything "dangerous" and take a look at a dump thread for addresses that warden is scanning. Otherwise, I'm not really sure what you're getting at.

[Xelper]

If you want to claim you were hacked in the off chance that you do something that gets you banned all you need is to run on a VPN. They will compare IPs and that will be the end of it... they don't keep track of the PC that is connecting. The Warden scan list is known(check this patch's info dump), so even if you aren't detouring Warden you should know what Warden is looking at.

[Cypher]

Like the others have already pointed out what you're proposing is mega-overkill. Just use trial accounts, and maybe a VPN to sever the link between the trials and your 'main'. I never did that though and my main was never banned (despite vigorous rule breaking on my part), but then that was back around BC, so they may have improved since then.

[yossarian87]

If all you're doing is reading memory from the WoW process, it's practically impossible for you to do something detectable. Of course a memory reading bot is useless if it doesn't have any way to make the bot take actions, but there are several approaches to that, most of which are considered safe. If you plan to jump right into injection then you should probably take precautions. I have been thinking about whether injection would buy me anything worthwhile and I'm still unconvinced.

One thing you will need for sure is a copy of IDA Pro so you can decompile the wow binary (if you don't want to simply mooch offsets from this forum). You can run that on a machine with no network access at all if you're paranoid.