ROOT Gaming is getting that warm fuzzy tingling feeling inside again. Do you feel it too? It feels like anticipation. It's like the butterflies you get just before another big ROOT announcement -- but bigger. What could it be? A cool video? A sponsor? A new game added? Another new member?
You may recognize some big interviews or you may remember a Gladiator World of Warcraft Paladin. You may recall some speed leveling records, vaguely. You may remember server first after server first. You may have a foggy recollection of a video where a mystery man overcame four insane AIs. You may remember the fall of Titans or the death rattle of demons. You may recall a man, a name, tied to all of these feats and more. You may remember that he raised over a million dollars for charity in the name of gaming.
You may know him as the greatest gamer in the world.
It would be interesting to see what Athene could accomplish as an SC2 player lol.
On July 18 2012 23:50 Velr wrote: Why Athene is famous will forever be one of the things i just don't understand.
Mainly because he used to post funny videos on youtube, using borderline pornographic pictures of his very attractive girlfriend as the thumbnails in all of them. Pretty genius if you ask me.
hey guys i'm pretty sure that Athene create a Protoss-smurf account GM with 0 loss and 20 more wins at the beginning of the game. Using always 4G no matter matchup / maps :D
As much as I love root I worry that they'll start heading towards pro entertainers instead of gamers. Won't change my opinion of them as I've always liked the groups mentality I would like to see them all play well in sc2
i have watched both the videos and read this i feel like something is missing... like what he is going to do for root xD
On July 18 2012 23:57 Drmooose wrote: As much as I love root I worry that they'll start heading towards pro entertainers instead of gamers. Won't change my opinion of them as I've always liked the groups mentality I would like to see them all play well in sc2
well they do have roterdam, destiny and now athene which all are people lacking tournament results at the highest level compared to other pro gaming teams so i think you might be right about that
CatZ again proving that he is one of the smartest guys in the SC2 scene. Athene is a great guy and will bring a lot of attention to ROOT because his reach extends beyond eSports into the general gaming world.
Athene will be the best sc2 player in the world. smart thinking by ROOT to pick him up while he's still a cheaper contract.
in all serious this seems like a good PR move. Athene has a ridiculously huge fan base. I see this helping out a lot. Maybe it'll attract more viewers to sc2
On July 19 2012 00:00 BoggieMan wrote: i have watched both the videos and read this i feel like something is missing... like what he is going to do for root xD
On July 18 2012 23:57 Drmooose wrote: As much as I love root I worry that they'll start heading towards pro entertainers instead of gamers. Won't change my opinion of them as I've always liked the groups mentality I would like to see them all play well in sc2
well they do have roterdam, destiny and now athene which all are people lacking tournament results at the highest level compared to other pro gaming teams so i think you might be right about that
They also have more players in the WCS NA Finals than Liquid and EG combined. Oh snap.
Athene being in ROOT and doing nothing is still awesome for the team because it will bring them new followers/Athene fanboys interested in everything he does.
I'm always glad to see someone join Root Gaming. I guess with Root having both Sc2 & Dota they wanted someone to dominate all other Blizzard games/do charity stuff. He seems more of a personality pick up which is cool having all those world first acheivements is a lot of bragging rights.
Sup Dood welcome to Root Gaming and Best of Luck Athene!
On July 19 2012 00:00 BoggieMan wrote: i have watched both the videos and read this i feel like something is missing... like what he is going to do for root xD
On July 18 2012 23:57 Drmooose wrote: As much as I love root I worry that they'll start heading towards pro entertainers instead of gamers. Won't change my opinion of them as I've always liked the groups mentality I would like to see them all play well in sc2
well they do have roterdam, destiny and now athene which all are people lacking tournament results at the highest level compared to other pro gaming teams so i think you might be right about that
They also have more players in the WCS NA Finals than Liquid and EG combined. Oh snap.
Mill has more player at the WCS EU Finals than root, oh wait Liquid only had 2players participating in the WCS US. Gl to both Root and Athene, bringing new fans to the scene is never a bad thing
On July 18 2012 23:56 VelJa wrote: hey guys i'm pretty sure that Athene create a Protoss-smurf account GM with 0 loss and 20 more wins at the beginning of the game. Using always 4G no matter matchup / maps :D
Isn't it ?
PS : He is a coach in RAZER house too i believe.
I believe it was Kiwikaki on his account. And he didn't 4gate. He was just a pro tearing his way into high masters. About 50 games if I recall correctly with a 90+% winrate. You can check a couple on Husky's youtube page.
This is like some subliminal way of saying Kiwikaki is back baby!
OT: This brings a lot of attention to Root and maybe to the Starcraft 2 scene. Athene is one of the biggest figures in e-sports, i wonder if this means he will be playing though. Next invite will be Husky? :D
On July 19 2012 00:35 ejozl wrote: This is like some subliminal way of saying Kiwikaki is back baby!
OT: This brings a lot of attention to Root and maybe to the Starcraft 2 scene. Athene is one of the biggest figures in e-sports, i wonder if this means he will be playing though. Next invite will be Husky? :D
On July 18 2012 23:44 Mattchew wrote: I don't see what this does for Athene or ROOT but they are pretty smart doodz
Are you kidding? Athene raised over a million dollars for charity, if that doesn't help attract sponsors or at least scream determination or motivation, then I don't know what does.
On July 19 2012 00:45 short wrote: Going by the little I've seen from Athene I'm not too excited about this, but maybe there's something I'm missing. I'll still support ROOT, though.
He is basically a sponsor magnet, perfect for people to pay attention to your team.
Just can't see why they would pick up Athene, I mean people with large followings and high viewership numbers turn away sponsors, and the sc2 players on the team have no need for sponsors. Just thought I'd chime in with my gloomy interpretation of this.
He is not gonna be a pro player guys.He is in his mid 30's guys,com'n. He is just gonna do PR for them,promote them,help them as they will help him. I'm guessing they are gonna do fan videos with him,like L2play DotA/sc2 etc. I dont't expect him even having a salary in this team. The only reason i see him joining ROOT is because he is good friends with CatZ and Kiwikaki. Also maybe to promote ESPORTS to gaming community,I see that as a good option too.
On July 18 2012 23:50 Velr wrote: Why Athene is famous will forever be one of the things i just don't understand.
Mainly because he used to post funny videos on youtube, using borderline pornographic pictures of his very attractive girlfriend as the thumbnails in all of them. Pretty genius if you ask me.
So it all started with young gentlemen's hunt for pr0n on... youtube.. well go figure.
On July 19 2012 00:16 TwilightRain wrote: Never liked this guy, too much of a jerk.
Yeah such a jerk making 1 million for charity, giving all his ad revenue to charity too, went on a hunger strike to raise awareness around the horn of africa problem, fighting for internet freedom, giving a girl with a rare disease a wheelchair etc .. damn jerk.
This is awesome for ROOT and it will attract more people to the team and sc2 for sure, great move
I gotta be honest, I have no idea what Athene brings to root except popularity. I know he is a great WoW player, and great at RPG games in general. And first at everything lol. But does he play SC 2? What race does he play. I want more details about his role.
On July 19 2012 01:22 Marou wrote: ok seriously on the list of achievements which one are true ?
Big wow gladiator paladin true power lvl'ing true giving 1 million to charity true
4ai thing, not sure but heard something about it.
He was never "good" in WoW, he played a Holy paladin in TBC which was about the most braindead thing you could ever do, you had what, 6 spells to use? Plus he got his R1 from 5v5 being carried by Hydra.
Yeah I really like Athene when it is none gaming related such as using his popularity to do all the good charity stuff he does, its great. But I cant stand it when he tries to talk serious about any of his gaming "achievements"
i love athene, and it's great that he joined ROOT. Though, wasn't there some hassle before with Razer and Destiny? And since Athene is sponsored by Razer, will that have any influence on Athene's sponsorship?
On July 19 2012 01:27 Antoine wrote: moved to sports & games
Should've made it a blog or something. =P
Yeah, no idea why this is in Sports & Games. If every random organization(or whatever ROOT Gaming is) would do this, this section would be flooded with useless threads.
On July 19 2012 01:22 Marou wrote: ok seriously on the list of achievements which one are true ?
Big wow gladiator paladin true power lvl'ing true giving 1 million to charity true
4ai thing, not sure but heard something about it.
He was never "good" in WoW, he played a Holy paladin in TBC which was about the most braindead thing you could ever do, you had what, 6 spells to use? Plus he got his R1 from 5v5 being carried by Hydra.
On July 19 2012 01:22 Marou wrote: ok seriously on the list of achievements which one are true ?
Big wow gladiator paladin true power lvl'ing true giving 1 million to charity true
4ai thing, not sure but heard something about it.
The 4AI insane thing isn't really an achievement for a lot of people. Even I've done it.
Most of them are things he has done, but not necessarily first in. It's more like "first to go public with," and since he's so popular and, I'll admit, he does do it really fast, people will believe him when he says he did it first.
Yes please just tell us if he is playing starcraft 2 cause thats the only reason we would care if he is on root and the only reason it should be on a starcraft website.
On July 19 2012 02:12 Sc2ttyl wrote: Yes please just tell us if he is playing starcraft 2 cause thats the only reason we would care if he is on root and the only reason it should be on a starcraft website.
Shit, I wasn't aware we couldn't talk about non-starcraft related things here.
Quick close everything but the BW and SC2 section, mods!!!1!1
On July 19 2012 02:12 Sc2ttyl wrote: Yes please just tell us if he is playing starcraft 2 cause thats the only reason we would care if he is on root and the only reason it should be on a starcraft website.
Shit, I wasn't aware we couldn't talk about non-starcraft related things here.
Quick close everything but the BW and SC2 section, mods!!!1!1
If it was posted in starcraft 2 general on purpose i would figure it to be so. The fact mods moved it could symbolize that they know more about this than we do and that it is indeed not related to starcraft. Good post bro, iam real proud of you (ps i am mad so please ask me).
On July 19 2012 01:22 Marou wrote: ok seriously on the list of achievements which one are true ?
Big wow gladiator paladin true power lvl'ing true giving 1 million to charity true
4ai thing, not sure but heard something about it.
He was never "good" in WoW, he played a Holy paladin in TBC which was about the most braindead thing you could ever do, you had what, 6 spells to use? Plus he got his R1 from 5v5 being carried by Hydra.
On July 19 2012 02:57 Sc2ttyl wrote: If it was posted in starcraft 2 general on purpose i would figure it to be so. The fact mods moved it could symbolize that they know more about this than we do and that it is indeed not related to starcraft. Good post bro, iam real proud of you (ps i am mad so please ask me).
My point and reply was based on the fact that you said "Starcraft Website". Sure it was in the wrong section but TL isn't a Starcraft only website.
Your post didn't say anything about it being posted in the wrong section. Plus it was in Sports & Games by the time you posted here.
On July 19 2012 04:14 Farad wrote: They have hired a pro WoW player? I thought WoW as an e-sport was kinda dead :/
Greatest gamer of what game?
I'm confused
Greater gamer of all the games. Athene proved again and again that he can make or break a game. He slaughtered every game he played, be it LoL / Sc2/ wow/diablo 3. You might say these are all easy feats, but truly it's not. His smart use of game mechanics made it possible for him to afterwards raise over 1million $ for charity in the name of gaming.
Some still call him the leetking even, but I wouldn't go that far He also has a very funny series on youtube that later got banned from the 'most viewed' lists because it didn't share youtube's policies [at least the very first 10 vids we funny as hell 4 years ago ]
Go athene, can't wait to see you find new ways of owning dem nerds :-)
Athene being hailed as the best gamer, when he's consistently being handed the best gear on a silver platter by his cult following? (I don't know if it was like that in WoW, but that's exactly how he progressed in D3 so quickly, as opposed to players like Kripp who played the game on their own or with their own teams.) Hard to support a player like Athene in that manner as being legitimate, despite the large amount of respect I have for Root in general.
On July 19 2012 05:05 DarkPlasmaBall wrote: Athene being hailed as the best gamer, when he's consistently being handed the best gear on a silver platter by his cult following? (I don't know if it was like that in WoW, but that's exactly how he progressed in D3 so quickly, as opposed to players like Kripp who played the game on their own or with their own teams.) Hard to support a player like Athene in that manner as being legitimate, despite the large amount of respect I have for Root in general.
thats part of the joke, apparently its funny for the 10th time in a row where he gets boosted to some high-ish position, then promptly proclaims himself the best in the world at said random game.
then when people who find him annoying vent their frustration that their game is now infested with the athene virus all his idiot followers all spam LOLOL WE TROL U. then he moves on to the next game.
i wonder how much he pays jeremy for stealing his act, at least that guy had class though.
But he frickin raise ONE MILLION for charity. Do you know what kind of monumental feat that is? That alone transcends to one of the greatest moments in esports ever
Yes honestly, people can say what they want but not many can raise 1mil (or even try for that matter) for kids. Enjoy the act and relax. Don't take shit too seriously. He's a decent gamer with a pro marketing mind. ROOT will deffo ride that train, and I think this is really good for them.
It makes a lot of sense for them to pick up Athene. He's insanely popular, as is most of root. They already have some controversial players, so thats not a big deal, and theres a ton of cross promotion they can do. Overall very smart pickup on ROOTS end :D
He's pretty funny in some of his videos, and his charity work is really good. Some of his D3 stuff is annoying from the perspective of someone who doesn't have tens of millions of gold handed to them every day, but nevertheless I support him and root overall.
ugh.. people need to realize that ROOT isn't pure SC2 anymore even though it was at the beginning, i believe they have a DOTA2 team and who knows what else.
root is deff expanding their "roots" pun absolutely intended here.. which will help them attract more sponsors and hopefully able to get a strong competitive roster in e-sports... pretty well done I must say.
On July 19 2012 07:01 Beorn1 wrote: Hard to support ROOT when they have this fool on their roster.
Yeah, I'm pretty sad to see this happen but I think ROOT trying to be in multiple games now and I guess he'll just be a billboard/host character for their team. I don't see him actually being competitive in any games.
But then I could be completely wrong, I did think Fruitdealer was here to stay
On July 19 2012 04:14 Farad wrote: They have hired a pro WoW player? I thought WoW as an e-sport was kinda dead :/
Greatest gamer of what game?
I'm confused
Greater gamer of all the games. Athene proved again and again that he can make or break a game. He slaughtered every game he played, be it LoL / Sc2/ wow/diablo 3. You might say these are all easy feats, but truly it's not. His smart use of game mechanics made it possible for him to afterwards raise over 1million $ for charity in the name of gaming.
Some still call him the leetking even, but I wouldn't go that far He also has a very funny series on youtube that later got banned from the 'most viewed' lists because it didn't share youtube's policies [at least the very first 10 vids we funny as hell 4 years ago ]
Go athene, can't wait to see you find new ways of owning dem nerds :-)
On July 19 2012 04:14 Farad wrote: They have hired a pro WoW player? I thought WoW as an e-sport was kinda dead :/
Greatest gamer of what game?
I'm confused
Greater gamer of all the games. Athene proved again and again that he can make or break a game. He slaughtered every game he played, be it LoL / Sc2/ wow/diablo 3. You might say these are all easy feats, but truly it's not. His smart use of game mechanics made it possible for him to afterwards raise over 1million $ for charity in the name of gaming.
Some still call him the leetking even, but I wouldn't go that far He also has a very funny series on youtube that later got banned from the 'most viewed' lists because it didn't share youtube's policies [at least the very first 10 vids we funny as hell 4 years ago ]
Go athene, can't wait to see you find new ways of owning dem nerds :-)
It's over the top to say he can make or break a game. People still play all of the games regardless of what he did and didn't do in them. I also wouldn't say he "slaughtered every game he played." He has no notable accomplishments in SC2, it is widely recognized by the high ranked WoW PvP community that he was carried to rank1 in 5v5, and he gave up in his race for "world first" hardcore Diablo kill when Blizzard nerfed the very exploit his strategy hinged on. I can't speak to LoL since I don't follow it but I imagine it's along the same lines. He is good at using exploits in the games he plays though - that much is true. I wouldn't connect his "smart use of game mechanics" to his ability to raise $1M for charity, but rather this fame and following from creating outrageous gaming videos.
On July 18 2012 23:53 Nekovivie wrote: ROOT seems to be recruiting community figures rather than talented players.
Who's next, I wonder?
i think they are trying to copy EG. as they dont have EGs money, they obviously cant buy good players like thorzain or huk but they can still buy bad players that are getting attention although they dont win anything (like incontrol etc.)
seems to be a great model these days. your sponsors get lots of time on air if you buy bad players that gain a lot of attention. as they are bad players, they still earn less than mid or lower top tier players but your sponsors are still happy
seems to be a great model these days. your sponsors get lots of time on air if you buy bad players that gain a lot of attention. as they are bad players, they still earn less than mid or lower top tier players but your sponsors are still happy
Why would bad players gain a lot of attention ? OH right, cuz there is haters like you ; )
seems to be a great model these days. your sponsors get lots of time on air if you buy bad players that gain a lot of attention. as they are bad players, they still earn less than mid or lower top tier players but your sponsors are still happy
Why would bad players gain a lot of attention ? OH right, cuz there is haters like you ; )
i love athene although hes bad at playing sc2
incontrol is a bad player and he does have a lot of haters, but he would be famous without them right
It seems more of PR move. Though I think it can be really good. Even if he doesn't play for ROOT in any competitive game he would still be good for the business side. He knows how to bring people in, keep them interested. Also can set up something as big as a 1 million dollar fund raiser I am sure he could help ROOT on the financial side since I know Catz wants to focus on being a player a lot more then he did last time root was around.
On July 19 2012 04:14 Farad wrote: They have hired a pro WoW player? I thought WoW as an e-sport was kinda dead :/
Greatest gamer of what game?
I'm confused
Greater gamer of all the games. Athene proved again and again that he can make or break a game. He slaughtered every game he played, be it LoL / Sc2/ wow/diablo 3.
I used to like Root.... now I dont. I have never liked Athene nor will I ever like him and I hate that people are willing to work with people who are really just in it for themselves.
surprised root is big enough to get athenes attention. I watched a follow up video and it seems athene became friends with kiwikaki (sc2/poker) and catz (sc2) and felt like joining based off that grown friendship. Interesting.
On July 21 2012 09:10 The Final Boss wrote: And ROOT continues to become this odd, controversial blob of players without any real results.
Kiwikaki Vibe
Not a root hater, but I don't think Kiwikaki is really playing right now. Vibe is good, but i don't think he has ever been in pool play for an MLG. When I look at just the SC 2 team, I feel like Slush is there best player, maybe drewbie(he did spend time in korea.) The athene pick up just doesn't make sense because I don't understand what he gives them as far as team stuff. Yes I get the fact he is popular and could attract money/sponsers. But at the end of the day you have to have players getting great results.
On July 21 2012 09:10 The Final Boss wrote: And ROOT continues to become this odd, controversial blob of players without any real results.
Kiwikaki Vibe
Not a root hater, but I don't think Kiwikaki is really playing right now. Vibe is good, but i don't think he has ever been in pool play for an MLG. When I look at just the SC 2 team, I feel like Slush is there best player, maybe drewbie(he did spend time in korea.) The athene pick up just doesn't make sense because I don't understand what he gives them as far as team stuff. Yes I get the fact he is popular and could attract money/sponsers. But at the end of the day you have to have players getting great results.
You are from the united states... You realise who is the champion of the united states is right?
Vibe is the foreign version of the old Polt :-(
That said, could some one give me a decent description about why i should care about athene?
On July 21 2012 09:10 The Final Boss wrote: And ROOT continues to become this odd, controversial blob of players without any real results.
pretty much this. nothing against them, I just wont be cheering for the team. I guess athene is a good pickup afterall, seeing how catz is trying to manage the teams. getting some personalities and friends.
EPT![[image loading]](http://www.root-gaming.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/athene_blog_post.jpg)
Welcome home Athene!
