For better or worse, this CQWW was all about FT8.  W9RM predicted that ops would get transfixed to their computer screens attempting to make digital QSOs when 6m Es could easily support faster, more efficient ssb.  This is exactly what happened.  An additional source of confusion was the incompatibility of North American contest mode and the regular DX mode of FT8.  Most were using the latter.  This often doubled completion time or prevented a QSO altogether.  In my opinion, the misunderstanding and mis-use of FT8 is the biggest issue/problem in VHF, contesting or otherwise.

Largely because of FT8, I scored a new personal best for this contest, worked Jim K6MIO to complete 6m WAS (pending receipt of his card), added 3 new DXCC and a few rare grids including DM86 on 6 and 2 (thanks Duffey).  Meteor scatter was entirely unproductive in this one, probably because everyone was sitting on 50.313 using FT8.

Mike WB2FKO