As team captain of 3329 and as a part of the drive team, I think that defense wil be extremely important as the season contiinues. This will be a shining attribute for teams without extremely strong manipulators. I know that because of my teams specially engineered chassis, we plan to make full use of it's special qualities and high maneuverability to run tubes and play some hard defense.
As for minibots, important early on, less effective on score later, especially in the elim rounds. it will probably come down to a battle of deployment rather than who has the best bot.
But who really knows...