This is officially the 500th post on the WHU!
I remember when I was closing in on 100 posts I was going to do a special article about it, but then stopped paying attention until long after the 100 mark. So today I’m making a point of recognizing this milestone.
Frostheim back when WHU started. BC was a dark time in the Frost raiding career, hanging waay behind the curve.
500 is a lot of posts. At least one post every Monday – Friday for over a year. Well over 300,000 words dedicated to huntery goodness, with an extra handful of random unrelated words.
The WHU has come a long way since then. From starting out planning for the launch of Wrath to starting to speculate on Cataclysm. From a wish list of pre-heroic Wrath gear to guides on nearly every hunter topic in our guides section, covering every spec, all the key stats, gemming, glyphing, enchanting, soloing, tanking, raiding…
I still remember getting really excited the first time someone commented on the site who wasn’t a guild member. I mean truly disproportionately excited. And the first time I got an email from someone from the site, then the first time someone recognized me in game (that felt really weird the first time it happened). Of course now I’ll get a dozen emails a day, and it is a rare day when someone doesn’t pop onto Icecrown to ask me a question or send me an in-game mail.
We had the WHU in-game event last November with over 90 people creating level 1 hunters on Icecrown to take down Hogger and Ysondre. We had the WHU BBQ here in Minnesota last spring (and will probably do it again this spring).
I also remember being so thrilled when the WHU traffic had finally reached over 1,000 visits a day (over a year ago). Somehow reaching the 5,000 and 10,000 visits/day benchmarks weren’t nearly as cool as that one.
But certainly the WHU has grown from being a small hunter blog with a dedicated community of a thousand or so readers into something quite large.
Bigger isn’t Better in All Ways
I think it was was nearly six months into the WHU before we had our first troll in the comments. The trolls are still pretty uncommon, but are no longer such a rare thing.
I also now get to experience the joys of the anti-Frostheim rage. Other bloggers raging against an opinion, and people bashing me on Twitter (which as far as I’m concerned is another good reason not to be on Twitter). Things I say or advice I give is often taken out of context, twisted out of its meaning and posted as reasons I’m a talentless hack. I have hate-fans, who scour every post looking for a phrase they can pull and complain about. They say I’m wrong if my results don’t match the spreadsheets. They say I’m wrong if my results do match the spreadsheets.
Where disagreements in comments used to always be based around data and science – in other words valid things that could be discussed dispassionately – they are more and more often emotional and more along the lines of “if you think that then you suck dumbass.”
The BM article is a good example of this. Had I written that a year ago (assuming the data was the same then) most people would agree, and a couple would argue that the data could possibly be incorrect, and then suggest another viable method of collecting data. Now it was mostly just ROAR UR WRONG with really almost no scientifically valid counter-arguements.
On the other hand, I think had I written the same article about survival, the response would have been radically less hostile. There’s something about those BM hunters, I tell ya.
There are also the comments along the lines of “this blog has gone way downhill” or “I don’t care about that, tell us something useful for a change!” These comments have been cropping up for the last six months or so, and I suspect that the real source of this is that there are fewer guides being posted on the WHU these days. This of course is because the vast majority of everything that needs a guide already exists.
I call for suggestions for new topics every now and then, and where a year ago there were big obvious gaps that needed to be filled, lately there haven’t been any real guide suggestions from those calls (other than pvp, of course 
)
Writing a hunter blog is fun, but it’s also work. Never imagine that it isn’t painful and a burden at times. Sure, any given article maybe takes five minutes to an hour to write, not counting any research that needs to be done (which at times is many hours).
But make a list in your head of every single thing that you would write about for hunters. Every stat, every spec, ever piece of advice that you think at least 30% of the hunters out there would need to know.
Okay? You’ve now got maybe a month worth of articles. Probably less. Assume you’ve covered every one of those, and now try to come up with something else to write about. Every. Single. Day.
Bigger is Better Too
However, for all the crap that comes with the WHU being as large as it is, the good far outweighs the bad.
Mixed in with those dozen or so emails I receive every day are always a few people writing just with stories of how the WHU has changed their dps. Thanking the WHU for the fact that they are no longer a huntard. Screenshots from hunters who were on the verge of being kicked out of their raid now topping the meters. Hunters who read the BM info and rather than hating me for it tried SV or MM and saw gains of over 1k dps almost across the board. These email success stories and thanks far, far, far outnumber all negative comments combined.
You’d think that over time the number of these emails would decrease over time — but they seem to be increasing exponentially. More and more and more people are discovering the WHU and seeing massive dps improvements.
And the WHU community is growing as well as their dps. I can only imagine what kind of turnout we’re going to get for the next WHU in-game event.
Honestly, these comments and emails are what keep me posting on the WHU, and going through the chore of updating every single guide for every major hunter patch, and tolerating the crazies and their bitter attacks.
As long as it’s still helping hunters, or still entertaining hunters, then it’s worth it.
And at the end of the day, as much work as the WHU is, it’s also a heck of a lot of fun as well. And that’s all because of you guys. So thank you WHU for 500 posts worth of hunter memories, and here’s looking forward to the next 500!
-Frostheim
Frostheim today.
Dear Frost,
You are the man.
That is All.
P.S. Horde FTW
Ok now, That is All
Congrats, man! Let’s have a drink to SCIENCE!
Congratulations Frost, 500 is quite the milestone!
PS: Are you still wearing the same shirt? I know dwarves like earthy scents but that might be pushing it.
Way to go Frost.
One of the few men that understands why I’m so unhappy as a dwarf with a crossbow.
I have become quite fond of this site, it helped me turn my “huntard alt” into a valued and hi powered regular raider . keep posting
Congrats on the milestone!!
would a video of a raid and hearing everone on vent be in the near future?
Im sure it would be quite entertaining and educational!!
Dito
Fukagar
I’ve never posted here before but I have been reading for probably at least a year. I’m so glad I found the WHU. Before I found this blog I would go to the EJ forums and have to go from thread to thread and just end up reading a bunch of silly arguments. If I asked other hunters for help I got snubbed. This blog has been a wealth of information and fun reading and has really helped me out in all aspects of being a hunter. So, in honor if your 500th post a big Thank You!
grats man, you’ve created an amazing site, keep up all the great work!
Cheers, buddy! I’ll raise a glass to you tonight when I crush the meters in ICC, remembering back when I was raiding with a non-80 pet in a leveling spec and just discovering the WHU.
Its going to be epic to see after you hit level 85, get your all new starter raid gear and compare your character screen shot to your other two you posted here. xD
Congrats on yer 500th post, lad. Fer this monumental occasion, I raise a pint o’ Dark Dwarven Lager t’ the dwarf who helped me destroy my competition an’ understands my deep hatred fer bows.
To Frostheim!
Grats Frost! I can’t wait to read the 1000th
woo-hoo! gratz on 500!
good post, it is weird to have trolls in this place (though truthfully I’ve seen just a couple)… but maybe that does indicate that you have reached a certain level of readership and awareness around the WoW internet-sphere.
regardless, you have certainly has made my hunter top dps in almost every raid group I am in.
also, while I am an elf, and use a bow, I did change the sound file such that I hear the gun going off! BANG BANG is better then fwip fwip
Grats Frost!
Seriously, I stumbled on this site several months ago, and it has improved my dps and huntering by very significant amounts. I am I regular daily visitor here and I absolutely love it.
Keep up the fantastic work!
-Terawyn-Icecrown
Congrats on 500!
and to the hate-fans. Im pretty sure they are just jealous of your uncommonly good looks.
Wanted to add my thanks as well to this thread, when my hunter was getting up to 80 i heard in trade chat that survival was the raid spec, i made my own one, failed at it, then found this site somehow. the dps icnrease was nuts, and i’ve never found anything particuarly objectionable – i miss my BM spec, but I raid to kill shit, and the best way to do it is generally your way.
These days i send all the hunters in my guild here, and even used your ‘the guild is not the raid’ post recently in an argument that started because someone didn’t like guild calender.
So yeah, thanks for all your hard work, it is really appreciated.
woot! go frost!
WHU helped me with keeping my hunter team in line ( I am Hunter’s CL in a guild ), and I hope that you, Frost, will keep up the good work.
<3 WHU <3
Manny.
Big congrats Frosty, i’m glad the good out-weighs the bad because I don’t know how i’d fill my day without your interesting, informative and witty blog.
Keep up the good work, WHU.
big gratzors frost. love all you articles wich have shedded lights on certain things i didnt think about for my sexy nightelf.(id rather look at a sexy butt than a bearded hunter
)
lots of info in here when you first start to read :p
oh one more thing:
could you please stop beeing so uncommenly good looking??
Thank you for all your hard work! Also, is that a new ranged weapon I see?
Thanks for all you do. I wasn’t half the hunter I am today when I first started reading…
Have a beer and go for another 500!
Frost:
I’ve certainly gained from your wisdom, and have had the opportunity to get some email responses from you. I’ve always found helpful, informative, and, if I might add, uncommonly good looking. Thank you for your great articles, advice, and podcast info. Congratulations on 500, and keep up the great work.
Anheg would not be the hunter he is today were it not for you Frost. Here’s hoping for a 1000 more posts.
/salute
Grats Frost, this site has helped me a lot and i really appreiciate it. Keep up the awesome work.
Thanks!
I don’t regularly play a hunter, but thanks largely to you and your great efforts I have constant hunter-envy. Congrats and good luck!
Haha, that’s Rowan’s rifle in the second picture, isn’t it? Glad you got it
Grats on 500 posts!
Gratz Frost,
i think people need to sit back and think about the work you have put in here, firstly and lets make this very clear, u did not and do not have to do this this, you could have kept all your knowledge to yourself, but luckily (for me especially) you didnt.
This is one of the main reasons you will never gets any QQing from me, you have more than earned the respect of myself and many other hunters out there (BM hunters are our emo class we know that, they know that, we all know that) ,
So not only would i like to congratulate you on 500 posts, i would like to thank you for them as well, we will never fully understand the work you have put into it, but just to let you know, for every 1 upset BMer out there, you will have at least 5 grateful hunters, we can only hope that you will keep posting and keep those grandpappy Frost stories coming,
thank you m8, u personally made me a better hunter, and for that myself and my wife will always have your back (she no longer has to listen to my scream at my PC) (because it was clearly my PC’s fault i was terrible
)
Hardly a week goes by that I don’t send a hunter your way. Grats on 500 post. I can’t wait for your next 500. BTW when is the next ingame event going to be?
Congratulations on your 500th post! It’s quite an achievement, and though I amy not always agree with what you write, the overall quality of your work is splendid. One thing I’d like to elaborate on was your comment about people saying this blog was going downhill. I made that comment a few days ago too. It was in response of Hirst’s tirade, and in such a context it should be viewed. I absolutely loathe people like Hirst, as their attitude’s very annoying, their vocabulary often limited to the most basic of insults and they cannot seem to respect other people no matter how hard they try (hint: they never try). While I feel that I can actually discuss the content of your articles with you, such things can never be said to a Hirst. They’d never admit to anything, as they see that as a weakness, and the sad state of the internet is that they usually get people to side with them even if they’re arguments are as flawed as they call their ‘opponent’.
So to you Frostheim I say: well done, keep up the good work and as long as you keep your articles informative, rather than pursuasive, I’ll continue to read them which much interest and joy.
P.S. Ditch the tank. No matter how good he is, I’m sure it’s not worth putting up with what’s left of his personality.
Frost!
Super Thank You for being a staple in the hunter community. Your efforts and time on WHU and now Scattered Shots have been, not only comical and entertaining, but extremely helpful and insightful. I enjoy and look forward to your posts on both sites your maintaining now. And I’m totally going to this years picnic if it’s in MN again!
Will you be putting more focus on pvp tips for us all someday? Or get an apprentice to work on that area?
Grats Frost!
I still remember the first time I posted here, sometime last winter. I think you yelled at me for not registering, lol…its great to see such hard work and effort pay off for you!
Its cheesy maybe, but I can truly say that you have made me a better player, a better raid member, and much more aware of allllll the intricacies of this game and this class (one that at the end of BC I seriously thought about shelving.)
I’ve pointed so many fellow hunters your way, and I think we’re all better for it!
Keep doing what you’re doing – you’ve made a great contribution to the WoW Community (Dare I say “Internet Celebrity?” *grin*)
Thank you.
Gratz on 500 Frost!
i found this site almost a year ago as a level 73, stuck, because my wolf wasent holding enough agro to quest
searching the web was the only way to find help and i found the WHU
since then iv understood my class and improved my DPS at 80 far more then i could have ever on my own.
so i just want to say thanks for everything! hope the next 500 are just as awsome as the last
Gratz Frost, you have taken me from lowly bottom dwelling huntard, to a chart topping full raiding HTKHS (hunter that knows his Sh##) and you and you alone(well a little me) have done this. There is not a week goes by that i don’t send a few people here, i get whispers all the time, other hunters that are better geared yet lagging behind me. Send them the link, then it’s on. So in closing i will punt a gnome, drink a stout and Yell your name in Dalaran.
Thank you again.
(PS Hey Bella)
Congratulations on this milestone. Keep up the good work! Your insights and posts are much appreciated!
Wow, 500 already. That’s pretty crazy! Happy to see this become such a great success for you. I hope you don’t run away from me now that Snoggi has so cleverly figured everything out about me.
And here I had you fooled for the past 20 years! CURSE YOU SNOGGI!!!
Thankfully most of your readers are not quite so…limited.
Thank you Frost !
I’m 62 years old, and your advice, guides, and explanations of mechanics, have helped me to become one of, if not the, best hunter on my server.
Prior to discovering your site, I just sorta plugged along, being adequate.
Mind you, I’ve been playing WoW since two weeks after release, so I’ve seen it all.
Thank you again, for making your expertise available to anyone who desires to improve both their knowledge, and performance !
Congratulation Frost…Your posts made me understand my dwarf hunter character and enjoyed the game as much as I could. I have quit wow after couple of yours full on and I dont play anymore. However, that how my days always stars to check your web site what’s new in wow world. It keeps me posted and I always smile on the way to work with thought in my head “you all still play..I will be back one day….Thanks.
Thank you so much Frost for everything you do! I am always telling my guildies that all my huntery awesomeness is entirely thanks to you. Though I am not a regular poster (just not as comfortable with it as others), I will always be a fan of this site and all your other endevors throughout the wow community.
Thank you.
Keep on the good work Frost:D I truly enjoy your blog:D and the readers that post on it:D
I think he is using the Stakethrower nowadays:D
Go Frost Go!
Heya Frost…
Congratulations on #500!! That is an amazing milestone of commitment! Major congratulations to you.
But I’ll have to admit, I”m not sure how to take the comment about the BM Post. I can say if you would’ve posted that a year ago I would have reacted the same. And I can say if you would have posted the reverse (MM Isn’t Raid Viable) back in BC, I’d argued the point.
Also, I thought I was pretty clear my issue wasn’t with you, but the message. Either way, I’ll publically apologize here to you and state it wasn’t ever intended to be personal. ( I can’t say anything about any other hunter blogger out there.)
Now back to the item at hand!!
#500!! Tap a keg and let’s celebrate! Gratz!
Great retrospective, and congratulations. I understand the challenge of new posts when you’ve written a lot of solid content about mechanics and specs and so on.
Dear Frost.
Keep up the brilljant work you do.
Thank you
All I can say is thank you for your contribution, you’ve made a lot of hunters strive for better in the game and entertained them at the same time.
I know I keep visiting for all the new stuff, but more so for the comedy you bring with the stories and little (arguably witty) comments littered throughout..
So Thank You Frost, keep the posts coming … I’m sure there’ll be plenty to writie about when Cata comes out to stop the whining.
May I just say for myself and many others I know – Thank you for your time and effort.
You have given so many the tools to make real progressive steps. And you have the special gift and talent to make it both informative and entertaining.
*toast*
Congratulations Frost. Awesome Job. You are personally responsible for thousands of us converting from Huntard to Top of the Chart contributors.
I believe that I have been with you since very near the start, and have read every on of your articles. They are always right on the mark.
Thanks again. Good luck with the next 500!
OG
Congrats, Frost (+50 Blogger achievement points)
Keep up the good work. PVP guides would be nice. I just started a 2v2 and 3v3 team and put together full sets of 232 PVP gear from badges and such. PVP info is scarce at best. OutDPS has a few good articles, but we need more.
Other than that the comics are good new articles, lvl 1 raids are fun (hope I can make the next one, and raid team stories are good too.
Thanks and keep it up!
Zatec – Hydraxis
PS – and stop cracking on my needle scorpion, I know it sucks, but I’ve gotten really bad luck on the other trinkets (9 Saurfang25 man kills – 1 trinket to other hunter) (8 LDW 10 man kills – 0 trinkets) I’m kidding of course, crack away, good sir.
@Hirst:
I suppose your ‘style’ is not so great if the favour’s returned? If so, then I do apologize. I have nothing against you, honestly. I just dislike everything you say and do, that’s all. No hard feelings?
Well done
I hope to read many more posts.
Grats on 80 dude…. Oh wait I mean 500
It’s an awesome read and I’m sure glad I discovered it. I wan;t really doing anything wrong but a few of the tips and tricks all help to boost the dps. Thanks.
As an idea for a guide, well, guide update really. The EAP one could use a bit of a look over, maybe a new set of values for the current typical iLevel 245 – 264 gear and maybe a howto on using a spreadsheet or femaledwarf to come up with your own exact numbers and how that fits into pawn maybe. Pretty sure I’ve seen all that information in various posts but I think it’d be better under one roof in the EAP guide
If you paid attention (which, let’s face it – you don’t – or you’d at least be able to spell my name) to what other people here have said about me, including Bella (who’s personality is much more to your liking I am sure) you’d know you don’t have to ask if there are any hard feelings. There are NO feelings. You’re just some guy on the internet that I will forget exists in a week or two (and I hope and recommend you do the same with me).
I am not sure what favor you think you returned, though. Unless you still don’t get sarcasm and satire and you really thought I was upset by you trying to discredit me with someone who has known me for 20 years. Laughter is the new anger!
Who says I misspelled your name? Maybe I was talking about someone else (*pokes his imaginary Hyenafant Hirst sitting next to him, who humms in acknowledgement*).
Guess you didn’t get mine either. I know that even IF I somehow got to you (I’m sure I did not), you’d never admit to it (see previous post directed at my Hyenafant…you know, the humming one called Hirst).
All I know is that calling anti-social behaviour sarcasm and/or satire these days is common practice, but that doesn’t make it anymore valid.
Or to say: a Hyenafant’s still a Hyenafant, no matter how big his pride.
Merry 4th of july Hrost.
P.S. Just in case you don’t get it, Hrost is an Elephant Turtle from Crimera 4 and ‘the favor returned’ you mentioned was using ‘sarcasm and satire’ as a response to ‘your sarcasm and satire article’. I figured you of all people should be able to know the difference, instead of replying to me about several times.
Having rerolled from a druid to a hunter all I can say is that this forum has helped massively.
And it’s nice to find simple guides that explain things in simple terms (I am a woman after all and all that number crushing just bores me).
I check it every day at work (when I’m supposed to be working)
Congratz on the 500 posts Frost. Well done!
PS: Do you guys ever peak around on the European servers?
500 posts: awesome
Helping to convert the “huntard” image: even better
Getting your intellect to 666: priceless.