Future-Proofing: Competitive Advantage

In our soon-to-be complete series on Future Proofing, I wish to further explore the topic I brought up last time, the topic if competition and how it will look when MTGO 4 comes online.

The first thing that this will probably happen during a routine downtime on Wednesday morning PST.  This will make the transition as smooth as possible for the players.  However, when play resumes, it will be a new environment… not just because of the visual changes, but that not one bot will be on MTGO.  This is because all the routines, how to confirm trades, how to select cards, and so on will be different.  This also does not include any new changes that will appear.

But we also know that it will not stay that way.  There is simply too much profit to be made and the crew at MTGO Library is going to be writing a new bot as will as others looking to get into the game.  There may be some who simply do not wish to go through this process.  Yatbot never made the transition from version 2 to version 3.  But the bottom line here is that Library will be making the transition.

Let’s assume that it takes two (2) weeks to get Library v4 stable enough to make trades.  What should we be doing in the meantime? 

First off, I would suggest doing upgrades on the hardware.  MTGO v4 is going to be more resource hungry than v3.  This means any physical machine which runs Library is going to need a minimum of a Gig of RAM, and more hard drive space allocated to it.  This same advice will also be applicable to virtual machines or VM’s. 

Secondly, do hardware maintenance.  Shut the machine totally down.  Unplug your computer, open up the case and take a can of air to the inside and splash all accumulated dust outside.  Do the same with the power supply, although I do not recommend opening that up.

Thirdly, this is going to be a good time to rethink your bot empire’s plan.  What are your short term, medium term and long term goals for the bots?  While there will still be a limited and professional version of Library, making huge changes here will not be as difficult to configure during this time than once you have your bot(s) up and running.

|Finally, make certain you get some good rest and enjoy the break from botting.  When Library v4 becomes available, there is going to be a learning curve to learn its nuances and to configure Library to our specifications.  It will be best to do that from a relaxed state than a restless state,