Greetings, I am drunk. Even so, I am rational enough to tell you, based on my experience with Wot, which normal tanks are best for farming situations.
I've been playing world of tanks for 8 years now, yada yada, no premium account. I'm also poor, and i'd rather spend my hard earned cash on beer.
As a perpetual noob I always found myself disappointed by youtube videos on this matter, they always ended up in, well you should get premium, or, yeah, you just have to buy this premium tank here.
If you have money, that is no shame, that is valid advice, sadly. But you are not reading that because of that.
So, without further ado. And for an information that you probably already know (this was actually made for newbies, like I was some years ago).
Top earners (for me)
Pz.Kpfw. IV Ausf. H – wow that's a mouthful. And yes, shockingly, I earn the most in this tank
M4 Sherman – damn I hate this tank but stats say I earn just slightly less in this one (think 6-8k here, rarely did i manage to go past that, but I'm not as good as you, mind you) and life size actually matters
Stug G – sometimes it makes even more than the Sherman (and plays tons better than it gameplay wise) but usually it is pretty close to it.
Just 3 tanks? Yes, sadly, pretty much. But they are top for me.
Now for the odd earners
60G FT the Chinese destroyer – around 5k mark
Skoda T 24 -pretty close to 5k mark
Now for the low end but FUN
KV-1S and KV 2 – wow, tier 6, who would have known, i have a lot of fun in them but earning around 4k
T-34 and KV 1 – such good tanks, sadly making only around 2-4k/game
That's about it! Of course this reflects my statistics, who knows, maybe you do way better than me in the T-34 😛
Things i didn't mention, tier 5 SPGs – some friends told me they make even more than the pz H, i just hate them, i cannot into SPG. Light tanks – Another class of tanks that i do not play and have no experience in them, i apologise.
Quick simple advices – 2 things are most important, make shots hit (ricoche or crits and so on don't matter). And the more you stay alive the more you will earn (strongly correlated). In rest youtube is choke full for individual tank strategies and map strategies, don't ask me, I'm drunk rn.
As a side note, every youtuber out there will praise masochism. Yes it is hard to be pure free to play, they will tell you, you will have to put hours upon hours into it, just to get to that tank that you love playing (T-54) but what i hate more than not getting that tank iIwanted fast is getting a 2nd job. Try to play in small sessions, 30minutes to 1 1/2 hours, this way you will also be peak form, on top of your game and not get bored as fast (or want to commit hara kiri).
What else.
Oh if you do have some money from grandpa but don't want to buy a tier 8 and prefer some side of beer like I do, you already know the top tier V-VIII earners (if not, check youtube, choke full). What you don't probably know is that between what is usually available from the low tier shop (as you could suspect the top earners are rare in shop like that girl you last spoken to), but there is much Matilda, Churchill, T 25, Chi nu kai, Excelsiors and Black princes to go. I had the best results with the Chi-nu KAi (shockingly enough, not many praise this little tank), which earned me +2-3k profit over the pzH, which is not much, but is actually amazing when taken into consideration how much (or rather how little) tier5/6 makes usually. Idk why anyone would buy the other tanks mentioned except maybe for crew skilling, credit wise they earn even less than the T-34. Just (G)et a beer.
That about wraps my silly guide for f2p players out there. See you all on the battlefield, sober hopefully
