[Thad House]

I'm very torn on the Ri3D idea. On one hand, I absolutely LOVE it that it brings teams up to higher levels and does that in a great way. The level of competition has been growing dramatically in past years. On the other hand, I felt, at least for our team, they saw them and got slightly distracted. But I hugely believe that the pro of bringing teams to a higher level greatly offsets any cons, because that is what will make FIRST even better.

Also reading through this thread, BJC's post sticks out. This game has a lower ceiling mechanically then we have had since at least 2010. Had their been 5 Ri3D's in 2013, I bet every single one of them would have been DRAMATICALLY different. This year they all had the same basic concepts, because that was really the best way to play the game. Execution might have been different, but ideas were similar. Had there been 5 Ri3D's in 2013, basic strategy would have been completely different, because there were so many different great strategies to play last years game.

I feel these Ri3D's will always be game dependent. I want to see them stay around because they help bring teams up, but I think how the higher level teams react to them will always be dependent on what the game challenge actually is and how complex it is.