[Zebra_Fact_Man]

From my perspective, considering all things, this was a good game. It is unfortunate all the field problems that plagued FIRST at competitions throughout the year, especially at the Championship, but the game itself was complex to play but still easy for spectators to follow. Also a very easy year to talk to non-FIRSTers about the competitions; robots playing 3on3 basketball. i.e. improved marketability.

Being from a class that got to experience the last true year of solid, unrestricted defensive play (2007), I once again am disappointed that defense kind of takes a massive back burner to putting up points, but it was basketball after all, so I kind of expected it from the start. Not to mention that with how expensive and intricate the hardware is on these bots nowadays, much of the defense limitations are certainly helpful in extending the usage-lifetime on key parts, such as the cRIO. No longer can you frisbee your RC across the room and still have it work like nothing happened.

I liked the Coop Bridge and it's associated worth. It added an interesting facet to gameplay, giving a few underdogs a chance at a legit playoff run. Still don't like the lane restrictions that carried over from last year. I kind of felt that the Kinect was completely worthless, but it didn't bother me any since I wasn't forced to use to it.

One thing I'd like to see improved upon by next season is the speed and reliability of field connectivity. Generally, it took WAY too long for robots to linkup and even when green, we still had problems. But I have faith HQ has bright minds working on this.