[Edxu]

I would say that as of Week 1, the game is in a very healthy state with regards to defense. Teams are rewarded for playing defense, but they sacrifice just as much by choosing not to play offensively and score.

I was watching the GTC regional, and I saw a robot specifically designed to play defense in the form of Team 5092. They were a very tall robot with wide blockers, allowing them to shut down and delay teams trying to shoot. In fact, I think that they single-handedly caused teams to focus on low goaling if they weren't already, because their defense was so strong. However, I believe that 5092, while playing defense, suffered in ranking because they chose not to contribute to the alliance's score directly.