[AutodeskGeek]

My first reaction when the game was released without defense was "boring...", as defense is one of the aspects of driving I enjoy the most.

As the season progressed though, the game grew on me. I've come to appreciate the change as it lets teams focus on being creative instead of trying to build their robot more robust and sacrificing weight that can be used for something else.

My biggest bone to pick with the game this year is just how much the rules changed. The teams that thought outside the box (kudos to them) and built tethered ramps really had an advantage over newer/less experienced teams that are not as confident in stretching the rules that far. I realize there are other options such as pass-through robots and such, but I hope you see my point.

This led to the teams seeing other teams with ramps and instead copying them by adding a string and a cardboard ramp to the robot. Something about that doesn't sit right with me. I would have liked to see a little more detail or explanation about the changes in rules early on that either says "Yes you can have a string to another section and still call it part of your robot" or "No, that's not the intention of the change in the rules."

Whether it was intended by FIRST or not, it really doesn't matter to me. I just feel like some teams didn't think they could stretch the rules very much, and were at a possible disadvantage because of it.