[Taylor]

Thank you for listening to our concerns about bumpers.

The most consistent complaint I've heard since 2009 was about the bumpers. The GDC abolished them, and I haven't seen a game with cleaner, more professional looking robots across the board.

Thank you for making all team numbers clear and visible.

Especially on webcasts, it was difficult at times to read numbers on bumpers. There is no doubt with this game's setup.

Thank you for giving us a game that we can design aggressively for, without fear of damage from defenders.

Teams have been liberated from the fear of robot mangling as a result of defensive play. There has been an explosion of creative, unique, elegant designs to play this game, and I believe many of these designs wouldn't have been considered if robots were being defended.

Thank you for making mecanums relevant.

We've all got a set in our shops, whether we use them or not. Most of them collect dust; this year at least they were an option.

Thank you for providing a game that is easy to explain.

We put green things on gray things. What's tough about that?
For those that argue it's oversimplified, what about "We play soccer" or "We play basketball" when introducing past games?

Thank you for creating a game that all skill levels can play.

While YMMV, I have yet to see a team field a robot that did not make a consistent offensive contribution to its alliance. In eleven years, I have NEVER seen that before. Once again, with the lifting of defensive play, teams were encouraged to actually PLAY THE GAME rather design to stop others from doing so.

Thank you for a game that has a strategy that changes weekly.

Sure, this goes for all years, but that doesn't make it any less true for this year. The intricacy of the game has really developed, and we're only halfway through the regular season!

Thank you for responding to our concerns quickly and with transparency, through email, phone calls, team updates, and blogs.

We had a direct encounter with HQ earlier in the year, and they responded with efficiency, grace and professionalism.

Thank you for Recycle Rush.

It's a new concept to this crowd, and unsurprisingly there is quite a bit of opposition to this game right now. I wonder how it will be a couple of years down the road, after we've seen it played at the highest level, and after some concepts that were tested here reappear in different iterations in future games.