Sadly Fnatic announce the retirement of HelloKitty
It never gets easier when we have to announce a player will be leaving the Fnatic family. Sadly, Ziefeng "HelloKitty" Wang will be retiring from StarCraft 2. Ever since Zifeng joined the Academy he has been an incredible teammate. It has been a pleasure to watch him grow and develop into the Starcraft II veteran we know him as today. Zifeng played a huge role in helping develop our Academy players as well as representing Fnatic on the international stage as a player.
Dear Starcraft II community, I am sorry to inform you that I am going to retire indefinitely. To many of you it might be joyful because another “Cheeser” has finally retired. I’m not going to bother explaining or defending against that title since I was known for that style ever since I started playing SC2.
To me, it has been my dream to become a professional gamer since I was little. This past year being in the public’s eye has been a wonderful experience for me. I didn’t realize that my life was going to be completely changed the moment I signed with Fnatic. To me Fnatic wasn’t just a team; it was a family where Elroy took care of us in every step possible while big brother Harstem continues to motivate all of us to become better players and better people.
I want to thank all of you for being there for me. Whether you’re a hater or a lover, in the end, we are all enthusiastic about e-Sports and Starcraft II and I think that’s the most important part, being Hella passionate! It was you who has cheered for me, talked shit about me, and being there for me when I needed you the most. Without my fans, I would have lost faith in myself as a competitor long ago. You really made me feel special from the bottom of my heart. I will cherish this part of my life along with the memories of you, your faces, your kindness, and your bad smell (jk).
Why would you retire!? Some may ask. I retire from professional gaming because of many reasons. Family pressure has always been a key factor. Long before I started playing SC2 I used to get yelled at for not doing something “productive.” Honestly I think making units and macro/micro is pretty productive my family has always been half-hearted supporting me in playing SC2 competitive. Now that I’ve graduated it’s become increasingly hard to keep their influences from affecting my decision in life. Since I’m not a student anymore I have to find my own way of living and bills don’t just pay themselves.
Many of you may ask, why can’t you just ask Fnatic for a salary, or stream for money? To me, salary is one thing, success is another. My manager Elroy has always told me that I will be an amazing player if I become a full-time and I know that. I ask myself if that’s really what I want and the answer is No. The game is increasingly become boring to me. Playing on NA server and get to top 5 GM isn’t nearly as fun as playing on Korea server and barely manage to beat top 75 GM with massive lag problems. Why don’t I play on EU or Korea more often then? For one, Protoss requires a lot of micro (lol yeah I know that sounds funny to many of you). If you ask any good Protoss player they’ll tell you the same. So the lag difference between NA – KR vs NA – NA is different in a LAN or even online competitions, hence missing one or two forcefields or stalker shots can cost you the game. The second and the more important reason to my retirement is the NA attitude. Suppy and Kane released a video a few days ago that accurately depict the currently NA scene. To be brutally honest, it’s pretty garbage. No one practices consistently and everyone just sit around on their Skype chats ready to start some flames. Each group has its own cliques resembling some shit from high school. We are much divided on many fronts in NA compare to Korea or Europe. This disheartens me so much; it led me to quit this game.
I love Starcraft just as much as I love all of you guys. This is not necessarily a goodbye rather than a new beginning for all of us. It saddens me to leave this community. I will miss the people who have made this journey of mine fun and eventful. I will always cheer for my friends in tournaments. Special shoutout to Elroy, Harstem, Miniraiser, Fnatic, Kane, Suppy, Xenocider, Jim, Macsed, XY, IG, and many others for the wonderful memories this year. This is Hellokitty, signing out from SC2. Best wishes to all of you.
For the official announcement visit Fnatic's website.
As someone from the team who spoke with Zifeng and got to know him, I'd like to wish him the best on all his future projects that he pursues. It was a pleasure knowing him and he certainly won't be forgotten by the team.
huh. i think it's a little ironic that he's calling out the scene for being trashy and dramatic in his retirement announcement, because he sounds like he's being a little dramatic himself. the post definitely reeks of some bitterness about the "boring" game, being called a cheeser, etc.
all that aside, i did enjoy seeing him play and i liked his name. best of luck to hellokitty in the future! thanks for posting, pughy
Cheese or not they way you played the game was always interesting to watch, besides those strategies are part of the game . GL in Life, I hope you keep lurking and posting in TL
Zifeng, it was cool to see you grow since I first met you at WCS USA in 2012. Good luck to all your future endeavors and maybe we will see you back again someday
I want to make clear, that I am not by any means trying to be offensive here, but I have never heard of HelloKitty in my entire life. And I followed SC 2 since the Beta of WoL. When I read the title of this topic I thought this was about a female player from ST or sth like that...
And, this made me giggle: "[...]Playing on NA server and get to top 5 GM isn’t nearly as fun as playing on Korea server and barely manage to beat top 75 GM with massive lag problems. Why don’t I play on EU or Korea more often then?[...]"
If you honestly cared you would have used this magical device called google. Why troll for responses? I'll never understand people with your mentality, ever.
Should be ashamed yo.
Kitty, you were always awesome to me back when we were on pulse or lygf shit its been too long i dont even remember. I may have only asked a few questions but you always answered. thanks man take care gl in whatever you're doing =)
Sad to see you go, but the reasons you give are very understandable. For what it's worth, I think the whole "no-good cheeser" reputation you got was pretty unfair, and I hope it didn't bother you too much.
Hope you're successful in whatever you move on to do!
If you honestly cared you would have used this magical device called google. Why troll for responses? I'll never understand people with your mentality, ever.
Should be ashamed yo.
Kitty, you were always awesome to me back when we were on pulse or lygf shit its been too long i dont even remember. I may have only asked a few questions but you always answered. thanks man take care gl in whatever you're doing =)
I googled Hellokitty and what I found was something no sane human being should ever witness.
Post comes across as a little salty, but he probably has it right about the situation in NA.
Gl in your future endeavors. Sometimes, the extra support from family helps, but you also can't blame them for their decisions that don't go your way. You made a really mature decision here.
I think we need to summon the ghost of IdrA to comment on this one.
In all seriousness, it sucks to hear stuff like "Family pressure has always been a key factor. Long before I started playing SC2 I used to get yelled at for not doing something “productive.”" :/ Good luck, yo!
If you honestly cared you would have used this magical device called google. Why troll for responses? I'll never understand people with your mentality, ever.
Should be ashamed yo.
Kitty, you were always awesome to me back when we were on pulse or lygf shit its been too long i dont even remember. I may have only asked a few questions but you always answered. thanks man take care gl in whatever you're doing =)
I did. Oh, he is a Starcraft II player. Thank you, google.
If you honestly cared you would have used this magical device called google. Why troll for responses? I'll never understand people with your mentality, ever.
Should be ashamed yo.
Kitty, you were always awesome to me back when we were on pulse or lygf shit its been too long i dont even remember. I may have only asked a few questions but you always answered. thanks man take care gl in whatever you're doing =)
I did. Oh, he is a Starcraft II player. Thank you, google.
If you honestly cared you would have used this magical device called google. Why troll for responses? I'll never understand people with your mentality, ever.
Should be ashamed yo.
Kitty, you were always awesome to me back when we were on pulse or lygf shit its been too long i dont even remember. I may have only asked a few questions but you always answered. thanks man take care gl in whatever you're doing =)
I did. Oh, he is a Starcraft II player. Thank you, google.
I seriously did NEVER hear about him. So why start a discussion everytime someone (unknown players) quits the game?
I'm not trying to be rude, just wondering...
Because he is a strong North American player. He qualified for WCS NA Challenger league in 2013 when region locking did not exist at all.
or to put it another way
if you don't know or care why bother to post and trash someone elses thread?
Lots of people know of him - i cant say i ever followed - but just because you don't know that probably makes you an ignorant fuck whos incapable of comprehending your own place in the world ... hint: your opinion of your own views is probably a good case of narcasism.
Makes me sad that rts players are moving on with no obvious 'next rts' in sight. Being a low end pro must be a LOT harder on you than being someone struggling to make it emotionally. Hopefully these guys are turning out determined and hard as nails. Good luck with your next move
good decision by hellokitty, he had quite a few entertaining games last year from what i remember, but since then there was not much to say about him. gl in the future
If you honestly cared you would have used this magical device called google. Why troll for responses? I'll never understand people with your mentality, ever.
Should be ashamed yo.
Kitty, you were always awesome to me back when we were on pulse or lygf shit its been too long i dont even remember. I may have only asked a few questions but you always answered. thanks man take care gl in whatever you're doing =)
I did. Oh, he is a Starcraft II player. Thank you, google.
I seriously did NEVER hear about him. So why start a discussion everytime someone (unknown players) quits the game?
I'm not trying to be rude, just wondering...
Rofl! Anyone who claims to follow sc2 and doesn't know who this is clearly isn't living up to their word. I am an sc1 forumer and know who this is. Last I remember, fanatic is a pretty notable team and losing one of their players is a big deal. Seeing hellokitty go is sad and also leaves an open roster position for fanatic if they want to fill it which is exciting for up and coming players.
I want to make clear, that I am not by any means trying to be offensive here, but I have never heard of HelloKitty in my entire life. And I followed SC 2 since the Beta of WoL. When I read the title of this topic I thought this was about a female player from ST or sth like that...
I call shenanigans. He and Capoch were at the centre of a shitstorm for about a month when they were announced as NA seeds for WCS 2013, I find it a little bewildering that you haven't even heard of him.
I want to make clear, that I am not by any means trying to be offensive here, but I have never heard of HelloKitty in my entire life. And I followed SC 2 since the Beta of WoL. When I read the title of this topic I thought this was about a female player from ST or sth like that...
And, this made me giggle: "[...]Playing on NA server and get to top 5 GM isn’t nearly as fun as playing on Korea server and barely manage to beat top 75 GM with massive lag problems. Why don’t I play on EU or Korea more often then?[...]"
Anyways, good luck in the future!
I don't know what you mean by "And I followed SC 2 since the Beta of WoL". If you don't know this player then apparently you don't follow the scene carefully enough, therefore that sentence is meaningless. I wouldn't define myself as a hardcore starcraft 2 fan ,and I still have heard his name many times and I've seen him play in streamed tournaments.
So people posting here things like "who's this guy" are basically saying "I know little about the sc2 scene", and are just offending themselves without even realizing they're doing it.
One of the first Starcraft tournaments that I committed to watching was the original Shoutcraft America, where Hellokitty went for epic aggro mindgame builds to beat Suppy twice. Kitty was basically the first creative, crazy, cheesy Protoss I learned about. I've been a fan of his ever since. So him retiring is actually a big disappointment to me. One thing that it really goes to show is that pro gaming still has a long way to go to become credible in the eyes of the public. I can't help but thinking his recent results would only be seen as a temporary setback if his family didn't antagonize him for his choice in work.
Been following dota2 for a year. I only pop in to tl now to look around a bit. And even I have heard of/ seen HK play before. He's not some no name player. If you're claiming to not know him, you're either a. Not following sc2 nearly as close as you claim or b. You know who he is and you wanna be a dickhead about it. Either way, your "who is he?" Posts make you look like losers.
seems like a good reason, ive been following this scene for quite some time now, well around the early/mid 2000's when it seemed to gain a lot more ground in terms of being noticed. Everyone has to get older! I see it in myself, i cant nearly play this games as damn efficient as i used to and if you look around it really is a young mans game . .so to speak. whether it be sc2/lol/dota/CS . . the kids have it! The NA practice argument seems legit, it doesnt look like anyone does it, at least to me. I always used to wonder what idrA was talking about when he said, "you wouldnt do this shit in a tournie" when he played ladder, ive been hearing this more and more over the last 2-3 years and if ur competitive and noone wants to practice i can see this being hard for those pro gamers, same with me with swimming and the tri training i do, peoiple just kind of half ass the training and u cant get a marker for improvement
best of luck kitty! i always thought ur games were exciting
Family pressure has always been a key factor. Long before I started playing SC2 I used to get yelled at for not doing something “productive.” Honestly I think making units and macro/micro is pretty productive.
he's right on about the NA scene. i have some personal friends that are semi-pro that are close with some of the pros here...and they all agree it's cliquey and stupid at times.
to stay relevant to the post, HK you were a great player and i hope you stay in touch. gl in real life, i think you made a wise decision <3 keep us posted on what you're doing man.
On May 28 2014 01:23 Waise wrote: huh. i think it's a little ironic that he's calling out the scene for being trashy and dramatic in his retirement announcement, because he sounds like he's being a little dramatic himself. the post definitely reeks of some bitterness about the "boring" game, being called a cheeser, etc.
all that aside, i did enjoy seeing him play and i liked his name. best of luck to hellokitty in the future! thanks for posting, pughy
All he's doing is telling the truth and it's good a pro-gamer had the balls to do so.
If you honestly cared you would have used this magical device called google. Why troll for responses? I'll never understand people with your mentality, ever.
Should be ashamed yo.
Kitty, you were always awesome to me back when we were on pulse or lygf shit its been too long i dont even remember. I may have only asked a few questions but you always answered. thanks man take care gl in whatever you're doing =)
I did. Oh, he is a Starcraft II player. Thank you, google.
I seriously did NEVER hear about him. So why start a discussion everytime someone (unknown players) quits the game?
I'm not trying to be rude, just wondering...
Rofl! Anyone who claims to follow sc2 and doesn't know who this is clearly isn't living up to their word. I am an sc1 forumer and know who this is. Last I remember, fanatic is a pretty notable team and losing one of their players is a big deal. Seeing hellokitty go is sad and also leaves an open roster position for fanatic if they want to fill it which is exciting for up and coming players.
Glhf with retirement hellokitty and take care.
Thank you. Even I who never actively watch AM players know who it is...
I want to make clear, that I am not by any means trying to be offensive here, but I have never heard of HelloKitty in my entire life. And I followed SC 2 since the Beta of WoL
I am really interested in how'd you define "followed". Since I don't follow SC2 at all, I just read an article or two on TL occasionally, and watch a tournament twice a year when I have nothing better to do. And yet I did know HelloKitty. I am not saying everyone must know him, or that he's a some special case or anything, but he was a decent and known player. Anyone who claims he follows SC2 must surely know him.
Good luck to HK... I've been a fan of his since he wrote those blink stalker all in guides in the TL strat forum back in the WOL days. Also his replay packs were awesome.
Also enjoyed his play in WCS as well as his casting in IEM sao paulo.
For one, Protoss requires a lot of micro (lol yeah I know that sounds funny to many of you). If you ask any good Protoss player they’ll tell you the same. So the lag difference between NA – KR vs NA – NA is different in a LAN or even online competitions, hence missing one or two forcefields or stalker shots can cost you the game.
Would he agree that Protoss requires a lot of important micro rather than just general micro compared to the other races?
The guy's a full-time student at UT Austin. I forget what he's studying but I think it was some kind of engineering (need verification)? The fact he has any time for any video games, especially at a place like UT, is a miracle in and of itself. Even I was quite aware of him, and I have not given much of a care for the NA scene since I started following SC in 2006ish.
For any of you guys who don't know what any of this means, he's going to have a much, much better future than he (or almost all) SC players would have as a dedicated player. Despite being a hardcore student as far as I've heard, he was a recognized professional player in something that is relatively speaking practically a hobby for him. I'm not saying he would have been a godly player if he dedicated all his time and energy to Starcraft rather than a small fraction, but he had his name out there, without Starcraft even being his top priority.
Good luck in your future endeavors, HelloKitty. You don't simply graduate as a Longhorn and don't go places
EDIT: I've apparently misheard over the past couple of years. He's Econ major, but regardless, full-time student + playing SC and being a recognized pro is not a simple feat. No need for people to bash him because he wasn't Flash or Savior status.
I am really disgusted by the people who feel the need to come in and shit in this thread. People complain and mock the NA scene all the time, but no wonder it struggles like it does when this is the reaction people have to NA players.
I can certainly understand his reasoning for being fed up with the NA scene. I don't like it however, when a person make claims they will be great at something simply if they had devoted more time to it. It's plain arrogance.
On May 28 2014 10:28 docvoc wrote: That video by suppy and kane. Jesus that was honest.
Yeah really good video. I don't know too much about Kane, but I know Suppy's a pretty smart and straight-forward guy.
I like the part where Suppy says "Like Brood War for example, nobody played that or watched that, like outside Korea, but we still really had a tight-knit community. So in comparison Starcraft is still doing really well." So fucking true. Even now, foreign (ie. non-Korean) SC2 is leagues beyond what foreign BW ever was, so I'm not really worried to be honest.
However, Korean SC2 is magnitudes smaller than Brood War was. There's no filling 100,000 person stadiums like Brood War used to.
best of luck hellokitty! Sad to see you go but very understandable decision. Being a (successful) full time student and playing sc2 on your lvl was a great achievment in itself.
Mr. Zifeng, you have always been one of my favourite streamers and I would always check TL to see if you were streaming. You're extremely talented at the game, and you were really awesome about interacting with viewers, answering questions, and being very informative. I learned a lot from watching your stream, and I got to see some great plays from you.
I did get the chance to play DotA 2 against you, one time. We randomly got matched up and I asked if it was really you, and you confirmed it.
Best of luck with your career. Hope everything works out for you.
hey hellokitty! it was very cool to watch you and the other guys playing at Sao Paulo this year! I wish the best for you and your family. gg wp gl!! toss fighting 4ever!
On May 30 2014 07:15 PIJAMA wrote: hey hellokitty! it was very cool to watch you and the other guys playing at Sao Paulo this year! I wish the best for you and your family. gg wp gl!! toss fighting 4ever!
it was nice meeting you too man. thanks for your's and everyone else's support~~ i'll be around reading forums/reddit some time here and there
On May 31 2014 11:00 PiPoGevy wrote: PLEASE SOMEONE LINK ANY NOTABLE GAMES WITH HELLOKITTY!!
I remember he had a good match against Heart in WCS last year. I haven't watched a lot of him, but it was a fun match I remember (if you type "wcs hellokitty heart" in youtube you could likely find it..)
I remember playing with HelloKitty, aka Zifeng. Back in the old SC1 days we would all roll up into the basement of Jester and the CSL team would duke it out while other guys played Smash bros next to our group. Good times.. Zifeng graduated a little later then he was supposed to but I'm glad he got time to really hone is skills and play professionally in NA. Best of luck to him, I'm sure he will find some time to stay connected to the community. Sucks to also see UTexas finish 3rd this season, even with such a stacked roster..
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