There is no one particular zone that I find to be the best for mining. There are simply too many factors that affect the profit that is to be made in different locations.
Some of these factors are that Sholazar Basin, often has lots of competition, however few of these are hackers. There are so many nodes to be found that the competition hardly affects profit. Sholazar Basin however I have found to have many fewer titanium veins than Wintergrasp.
Wintergrasp has fewer nodes than Sholazar Basin, but much more titanium, which depending on your server may or may not make up for the lack of the incredible number of saronite ores to be found in Sholazar. What I mean by this is that depending on current titanium prices, you may be better of getting lots and lots of saronite very quickly in Sholazar, rather than getting a decent amount of titanium in Wintergrasp. Wintergrasp is also the hacker haven, where all of the hacked accounts are used for mining (using a mining hack) This makes for a lot of competition in Wintergrasp.
Icecrown is the third mining zone that is truly worth mentioning, and even then not by much, as I do not find it to be a very good zone for mining. There are lots of nodes, however I find there to be very little titanium. The terrain is quite annoying, with all the different mountains and ridges. There is very little competition to be seen in Icecrown at most times.
Summary:
Wintergrasp:
Pros:
- Lots of titanium spawns
- Middle difficulty terrain that makes for an easy mining route, though not as simple as Sholazar
Cons:
- Lots of competition (Irritating hackers included)
- Fewer total mining nodes to be found
Sholazar Basin:
Pros:
- Lots and lots of nodes overall
- Medium amounts of competition
- Very simple terrain, fly in a circle around the zone
Cons:
- Few titanium spawns
Icecrown:
Pros:
- Lots of overall node spawns
- Very little competition
Cons:
- Complicated terrain
- Annoying mining route
- Few titanium spawns
Wintergrasp Mining Route:
Pros:
- Lots of titanium spawns
- Middle difficulty terrain that makes for an easy mining route, though not as simple as Sholazar
Cons:
- Lots of competition (Irritating hackers included)
- Fewer total mining nodes to be found
The route I use for Wintergrasp is created by the routes addon. When creating your route in routes, make sure you have all nodes you want tracked turned on in gatherer, and always click the optimize option along with foreground in routes, otherwise the route will take you all over, and make very little sense.
Sholazar Basin Mining Route:
Pros:
- Lots and lots of nodes overall
- Medium amounts of competition
- Very simple terrain, fly in a circle around the zone
Cons:
- Few titanium spawns
As you can see I made the route for Sholazar Basin myself, without the assistance of the routes addon. This is because routes has you zigzagging from the edge of the map to the inner area in a strange pattern, this makes for a complicated route that takes a long time, netting you fewer ores. This route shows up in the addon due to the placement of nodes all over the zone.
Icecrown Mining Route:
Pros:
- Lots of overall node spawns
- Very little competition
Cons:
- Complicated terrain
- Annoying mining route
- Few titanium spawns
Icecrown is my least favorite of the three zones, but depending on competition in the other two zones I will sometimes come here where there is rarely competition. Just because it is generally the least profitable, that doesn't mean the profit is bad, it is very close to Sholazar for profit/hour usually, however the more complicated route and terrain makes it less appealing overall. Due to the strange terrain of Icecrown, when creating the route make sure to enable extra optimization.
I am not going to throw out any numbers, as the profit entirely depends on time, day of the week, server, amount of competition, there are just too many factors.
However I can tell you in order from most to least which zones I find to be the most profitable.
1. Wintergrasp (Quite a bit ahead of the other two, often double)
2. Sholazar Basin (Only slightly higher than Icecrown)
3. Icecrown (Lower, but very close to Sholazar, can be more profitable depending on competition and how quickly you are getting through your route.
However I can tell you in order from most to least which zones I find to be the most profitable.
1. Wintergrasp (Quite a bit ahead of the other two, often double)
2. Sholazar Basin (Only slightly higher than Icecrown)
3. Icecrown (Lower, but very close to Sholazar, can be more profitable depending on competition and how quickly you are getting through your route.
