[commodoredl]

I've been watching this thread for a while and I think I'd like to share a bit about my team's experience at multiple regionals.
578 is one of those teams who have been around a while, shows up, takes home one of the minor awards each year or sometimes none at all, and goes home. We haven't won a Regional since 2001, and we haven't been finalists since 2004 (Long enough that no one on our team remembers those robots). We attend 2 regionals, a home regional and an away regional. Unfortunately, we never have enough funds for two regionals and Atlanta, so it's either away regional or Atlanta. It has always been a great experience getting to attend a second regional. Even if we do poorly at the first regional, we know our experience will be able to carry us further at the second regional in the matches. This year we were 4-6 at our first regional, our second we were 6-3 which was enough to make us alliance captains for the first time in 2 years. A second regional can give a team who isn't a "powerhouse" a second chance at showing the other teams that they mean business.
You've been asking how "powerhouse teams" attending multiple regionals can be a bad thing. But from the point of view of "just another FIRST team," attending a second regional even if we miss out on Atlanta or a Championship is the best part of our season. Our drivers get a chance to learn the game, and our team gets a second chance at winning an award. The people we meet and places we see more than make up for a dominant #1 alliance who can still make the playoffs entertaining most of the time anyways.