There was a thread on this about a year ago
here. Most sides have been argued to death, but there's still room for conversation.
Echoing on what I what I mentioned in the old thread was that for some teams, it'll still be a robot beauty contest. Hopefully with the implementation of the Robocoach this year, there won't be as many dead auto/hybrid matches as last year, but it'll still happen. From the stands, this can be the most boring part, especially to those new to FIRST.
Although I do agree with the importance of software rising in FIRST, I do disagree with extending autonomous. Making the autonomous challenges harder and worth more will inspire better software, not just allowing more time, or making it easy to score. 15 more seconds just widens the gap between the have and the have-nots in terms of software capabilities.
I have a feeling that the results of this game will be significant in how the GDC plans out the auto or hybrid periods of the upcoming games, especially in terms of robot-human interaction or other communication agents. We'll just have to see eventful those first 15 seconds are this year...