Character Rankings May 2015 Edition: Voting closed

Unknown

Ebolamonkey84 wrote:

adamLmpq wrote:

I shared this with a few friends who have somewhat more limited rosters and they brought up a good point: There are many characters they don't have much experience using and aren't really qualified to rank. Would there be any way to set it up so a person could NOT rank a character and have it not weigh against that character's total score?

I feel like even if you do not have certain characters, the players that care enough to fill out a survey should still have a rough idea of how a character is based on abilities and fighting them. I did include the length of time played and roster strength questions as a way of potentially splitting out the data in addition to having a main ranking. it might be interesting to see how a 2* roster person values the 3* characters they are trying to acquire.

Still, a 0 or a Pass option might not be a bad idea.

Ebolamonkey84

Lerysh wrote:

Surveyed. I think this method is going to have a lot of 2*s overshadowing 3*s undeservedly tho.

Marc Spector wrote:

ArkPrime wrote:

This is way better than ranking them all against each other for sure

Definitely! As the grid breakdown showed last time, a lot of characters had rankings heavily skewed towards their original (unchanged) positions in the list. This way's a lot better, and I'm looking forward to the results. (Voted this aft!)

See, I don't agree with this at all. Ranking them against each other is basically assigning a value of 1-50 for each character instead of 1-10, although it doesn't allow for ties. 10 stars is just not enough fine grain to judge all the characters in, how do you rate the usefulness of a 1* comparatively to other 1*s without totally screwing your other ratings? Does IM35 rate 5 stars, even if I put half the 2* characters at 4 and below? Does OBW deserve less than 10 stars? She is a top notch 2* character, but is she really better than, say, 3* Daken (whom I gave 7 stars)?

Maybe if it was broken down by star tier, as separate questions. Or maybe if it was a scale of 1-20 instead of 1-10. Or maybe I just don't like ties for "best" of anything. I want to be able to rank this guy number 1 and that guy number 2 without forcing everyone else to be 8 stars or below to do that.

Unfortunately the survey site I used wouldn't let me use half stars or go beyond 10 to rank. I'm hoping there will be enough responses to prevent the likelihood of a tie.

As I was filling it out myself, I did think about how this might skew the data compared to past rankings. If it seems like the lower tiers have moved up a bit too much, I might consider weighting the scores based on star rank.

Ebolamonkey84

Lerysh wrote:

Ebolamonkey84 wrote:

adamLmpq wrote:

I shared this with a few friends who have somewhat more limited rosters and they brought up a good point: There are many characters they don't have much experience using and aren't really qualified to rank. Would there be any way to set it up so a person could NOT rank a character and have it not weigh against that character's total score?

I feel like even if you do not have certain characters, the players that care enough to fill out a survey should still have a rough idea of how a character is based on abilities and fighting them. I did include the length of time played and roster strength questions as a way of potentially splitting out the data in addition to having a main ranking. it might be interesting to see how a 2* roster person values the 3* characters they are trying to acquire.

Still, a 0 or a Pass option might not be a bad idea.

I will take that into consideration for next time. I chose the free survey site that mm used for his rankings. If anyone knows of other sites that would allow for more granularity the next time, let me know.

Unknown

I hope I was able to help with my survey. I am a 2* > 3* transitioner, but I answered as truthfully as I could based on their abilities, fights with/against them in both pvp and pve teams as well.

PS: Thanks for doing this! I love reading what everyone thinks about which characters are top tier, etc. It helps me to think of certain team ups or combos.

Arondite

I suspect this voting format will create ties. 1-10 across 50 guys is gonna take a lot of votes to create enough decimal points to break ties.

I'd have preferred either a "rank them in order" system, or a "rate out of 100" system. Not that it's a huge deal, just an observation/prediction on my end.

Bonus! My personal "top 15"
(Note: Heroes are ranked "in a void" - based strictly on how good they are in the game in general, not in any specific combo [like Patch + Loki])
(Note: Heroes are ranked considering their offensive potential [Speed in defeating enemy teams ; likelihood to "guarantee" offensive win vs any team fielded] as well as defensive potential [How likely they are to get you 'skipped'])

15. Cyclops
Why?
Cyclops edged out Kamala Kahn for me for one important reason - he accelerates himself. Kamala is an outstanding character, but in my experience she's also very team reliant. She's looking for one of two teammates - an accelerator or someone with short, spammable skills. In practice, she probably beats him out for this spot because there are such pairings, but as a stand-alone character I had to put Cyclops above her.
14. Captain America (Steve Rodgers)
Why?
I'll just come out and say it - Steve is the single best PvE character in the game. He's not outstanding defensively in PvP due to the AI's inability to place tiles properly, but he's also pretty strong offensively in PvP (though a bit slower to get rolling).
13. Black Panther
Why?
Rage of the Panther.
12. Magneto (Classic)
Why?
Magneto is fast offensively and hits like a truck. Add to that the fact that on defense, the AI can't really play him "wrong", the cascade potential of his skills and his newly amped health, and he's definitely a noteworthy addition to any team. An offensive Blue skill is a rarity, too.
11. Iron Fist
Why?
Iron Fist is an accelerator. He's arguably the best in the game at it, too. But we're not ranking him for that - we're ranking him as a standalone character, and even in that regard he's excellent. He hits like a truck (for free). He also hits like a truck (for cheap). The AI can't really play him wrong, and he creates damage twice per turn (attack tile, match damage) at least, meaning he cashes in on his own strike tiles double-time. He's also likely to be skipped by most players, thanks to all the free damage each turn, so he's a defensive bonus as well.
10. Professor X
Why?
One of the most overrated characters by a lot of players, I feel. But he's still "good" in the sense that he's a major defensive deterrent. No one wants to deal with the invisible bastard, that's true. He's also very combo oriented, which hurts him when rated as an individual. But really... no one wants to deal with that invisibility.
9. The Hood
Why?
Great on both sides of the ball. The only downside of the character is his piddling health. He accelerates any other character in the game while decelerating the enemy team, making wins faster and more HP-efficient. On the defensive side...well, when a team pops up that features the Hood, you either bring your own or you skip. That's a huge status-booster as far as this ranking is concerned.
8. Luke Cage
Why?
Huge yellow nuke. Excellent red. Good, spammable black that increases its own power efficiency if banked for multiple casts. He's also a virtual auto-skip for most transitioners or 3 star exclusive players, because the Red is a nuisance defensively.
7. Deadpool
Why?
He's good offensively with an outstanding Dmg/AP Red and a world-class team nuke in a little-used offensive color (Purple). The "instant win" for 14 AP can't be overlooked for PvE, either. The biggest note, though, is that he's a virtual guaranteed skip for a lot of would-be attackers thanks to the fact that his Red virtually can't be denied, and the huge chunk of damage you take makes fighting him pretty health-pack inefficient.
6. Loki
Why?
Super-Hood. Loki is The Hood with more health, an excellent board shake ability, and the ability to twist special tiles. Specific combos aside (cough Patch cough), Loki is universally an outstanding benefit on both sides of the ball. His Green can be used to coax the AI into funneling AP into your reserves while he's used offensively, or defensively he can be used to rob your would-be attacker of precious match-4's and cascades while setting up your AI for those god-mode cascades we know and love. It's also worth noting that the AI can't/won't misfire his black, which is another benefit (since the AI can misuse so many characters).
5. Wolverine (X-Force)
Why?
The King without a throne. X Force isn't what he once was. He's definitely still the best in the game at eliminating a single target expediently (at least in my experience, but not by much), but after the first target drops he's not really any more effective than any other heavy hitter. His Green is also pretty much a pittance when it comes to trying to down anything with HP of note. Lucky cascades off his Green, Black, Yellow or any combination of the three can certainly cause the game to go absolutely berserk, but no longer having the skills feed into one another or having the ability to second-turn-down The Hood is a huge knock to the utility of the guy who's whole thing is speed kills.
4. Nick Fury
Why?
Because you auto-skip Nick Fury. He's not bad offensively, but not fast. And the AI can definitely misplay him. He has his flaws, yes, but...you skip Nick Fury. You've always skipped Nick Fury. Lucky cascades are just a fact of life if you play this game, but if you're attacking into Nick Fury lucky cascades can ruin your whole life. And Demolition? Wrecks even this thickest Health Bar.
3. Thor (Modern)
Why?
It was hard for me to rate Thor above Nick, but it's true. Offensively, he feeds himself into a devastating Yellow > Green combo, coming off of what is possibly the best Yellow ability in the game and going into one of the hardest hitting Team Nukes any tier has to offer. Defensively, the AI can't even play him wrong - cascades are cascades. And either way, his opponents have to chew through 10,200 HP to shut him down, which is no simple task.
2. Thor (Goddess of Thunder)
Why?
Self explanatory. Scarecrow on defense,
1. Iron Man (HulkBuster)
Why?
Because he's the best in the game. I hope D3 doesn't make me regret saying this, but he really is. And that's not a problem - he's a 4 Star hero. One of them should be the best. It just so happens to be this one.

Ebolamonkey84

We have 170 responses so far. Thanks to everyone who has voted.

Ardom

This format is so much easier - first time I have bothered voting.

Staals

First of all, great initiative. I think we all valued Mischiefmaker's hard work and the intention to fill that gap is much-appreciated.

Second, I agree with the difficulties of ranking characters based on 1-10 star rating since it's hard to compare across tiers. I believe the relevance of this ranking will fully depend on your analysis of the results. Perhaps you can show a ranking based purely on the grades, a ranking per tier, and an overall ranking including your analysis (which is most interesting in the end).

Anyhow, I very much look forward to the results and thanks for the work, I certainly don't envy you for it.

Unknown

A great ranking system, thank you for putting this together. One thing to note; characters don't exist in a vacuum. So, while most of the characters I rated as 7 stars are MUCH stronger than Juggs, I gave Juggs 7 stars since he is a beast for DPD's, and Balance of Power tournaments, though he doesn't get any use otherwise.

Ebolamonkey84

260 responses as of this post. If the responses stop going up I may close it earlier than I originally stated.

Druss

just voted

I do like the format, however I do expect to see some 2*'s very high - (OBW) as impossible to rate her any less than an 8 imo. (I have 2 & still use her almost exclusively vs goons despite having 25+ Lv166's).

As someone pointed out earlier this sort of score puts her on the same level as say 3* Daken - is she that good? My answer would be yes but situationally only. For instance I would much rather face OBW than 3* Daken in PvP (those were the days - PvP battles against less than lv 200 opponents - getting all sentimental!).

Unknown

Lerysh wrote:

Surveyed. I think this method is going to have a lot of 2*s overshadowing 3*s undeservedly tho.

Marc Spector wrote:

ArkPrime wrote:

This is way better than ranking them all against each other for sure

Definitely! As the grid breakdown showed last time, a lot of characters had rankings heavily skewed towards their original (unchanged) positions in the list. This way's a lot better, and I'm looking forward to the results. (Voted this aft!)

See, I don't agree with this at all. Ranking them against each other is basically assigning a value of 1-50 for each character instead of 1-10, although it doesn't allow for ties. 10 stars is just not enough fine grain to judge all the characters in, how do you rate the usefulness of a 1* comparatively to other 1*s without totally screwing your other ratings? Does IM35 rate 5 stars, even if I put half the 2* characters at 4 and below? Does OBW deserve less than 10 stars? She is a top notch 2* character, but is she really better than, say, 3* Daken (whom I gave 7 stars)?

Maybe if it was broken down by star tier, as separate questions. Or maybe if it was a scale of 1-20 instead of 1-10. Or maybe I just don't like ties for "best" of anything. I want to be able to rank this guy number 1 and that guy number 2 without forcing everyone else to be 8 stars or below to do that.

Except half the people are going to go "F this" midway through the 600 question survey and spam option 1.

rixmith

Instead of just saying up front "it won't work" let's go through the process, and take a look at the results. Then we can say "it didn't work", "I told you so" or "Hey, these results are pretty interesting..."

ronin_san

I took the quiz. I hope it helps.

I'm on day 550+ and have 15 fully covered 3* and 11 of them are max level. (Loki, Hood, Daredevil, and Torch are underleveled).
I've got about 5 chars that are a cover away from max: Magneto. Blade. Rocket&Groot, Cage, and Psylocke.
I have 2 4* with above 12 covers, and only one (xfw) is above 200
I've only Ares, Wolverine, and OBW left in 2* land.
I keep IM35 around solely for DDQ.

**Scratch that**. Just got fourth cover for RnG on day 565. He's 4/5/4. Not ideal, but worth leveling.

rixmith

How did this turn into another flame thread? This is ridiculous. It's pretty simple, if someone makes a post that pisses you off, just ignore it. Don't respond and start another flame war. How hard is that? This was a good and productive thread, let's keep it that way.

JamieMadrox

I'm not issuing any formal warnings yet, but either get this thread back on track or I'm shutting it down/deleting a bunch of posts. This isn't directed to any one person, I see a number of people that are getting carried away here.

Malcrof

Just to get this back on track.. SG needs more love from you people. Now that DPD gave me a 4th cover for her green (she is at 5/4/4 now), and with her boosted... that green is doing over 4k dmg, free AP + cascades.

I have been using her more and more since the last PVE (with bullseye putting out those shields.. her purple has insane damage boosted.)

stowaway

Ebolamonkey84 wrote:

I will take that into consideration for next time. I chose the free survey site that mm used for his rankings. If anyone knows of other sites that would allow for more granularity the next time, let me know.

SurveyMonkey would let you go up to 15, with an "N/A" option. I happen to be using SurveyMonkey at work right now, so I threw together a sample with just Spidey and Cyclops on it, so you can see what it looks like. Url in spoiler tag.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/create/survey/preview?sm=GMAG3jddmHFLeDMwn96ZKQbvo4zSZTm3rEZ2p3S68b8_3D

Ebolamonkey84

Just broke 400 responses! Thanks to everyone who has participated so far.

jimstarooney

Malcrof wrote:

Just to get this back on track.. SG needs more love from you people. Now that DPD gave me a 4th cover for her green (she is at 5/4/4 now), and with her boosted... that green is doing over 4k dmg, free AP + cascades.

I have been using her more and more since the last PVE (with bullseye putting out those shields.. her purple has insane damage boosted.)

I agree, that green is insanely good.