[Jimmy Cao]

I don't really have too much to say against how it went this year. Only a few small points.

First, defense was a little under-valued. I think a game should balance defense and offense, much like '06, where a good defender could significantly hurt a good shooter, but a small little box-on-wheels cannot take out a top-of-the-line bot. I think FIRST learned that defense cannot be too important from last year, where anyone can take out a ringer-bot.

Also, I feel that it would be more interesting if there were more tasks that teams could do. This year, the game was almost dictated to teams. Most of the teams that shone bright hurdled. There was (almost) no way to be the backbone of an alliance if you cannot hurdle. On top of that and the regulations on defense, many teams with lesser resources settled with either lapbots or hurdlers who could only hurdle once or twice in a match. When it came to championships, it was often difficult for many lower-caliber teams to keep up.

Just my $.02