For fun discussion: determining a character's rarity

Tryke
Tryke Posts: 320 Mover and Shaker
edited December 2015 in MPQ General Discussion
Most of us know that future character releases will be 4-5* from this point onward, but there were times when new characters could be released at any rarity.

Question: What determines a character's rarity in your opinion?

Assumptions:
- This is a purely aesthetic and story based question as opposed to a game balancing question
- there is no character saturation, so you can have as many characters in any rarity
- 1-5* scale only for now to keep things relative

My own thoughts:
Power:
There is something of a power scale to the Marvel characters based on rarity. Current 5* include OML who is a time traveling old badass, and 2 cosmic level beings. 4*s comprise of a lot of 'upper management' type characters who are either involved in a leadership role or are super independent. Bottom line is, 4*s get stuff done. 3*s comprise a large portion of the characters, with the most variety in character types and power levels. 2*s are strong, capable characters but a bit lower on the overall power scale. The last group, 1* is a small collection of characters that feels a bit inconsistent on the power scale.
Comic popularity:
Does character popularity have anything to do with rarity? Each tier has some well knowns and some lesser known characters, at least in public circles. Comic book fans may absolutely love X character, but general audiences may have never heard of them. The Wolverine character is clearly the most prominent and spans several rarities and some well knowns like spiderman and iron man do as well. Would that contradict the notion that rarity is a 'popularity contest'?
Character depth/awesomeness:
This is somewhat tied to comic popularity, but do a character's aesthetic design, story arcs, character traits, determine their rarity? 3*s and up tend to have more of an aesthetically diverse and cool 'feel' to them than 1-2.

TL;DR: If a new character was released that could be of any rarity, how would you guess it? (based on power, popularity, character design, or feel free to add your own factors)

Comments

  • Malcrof
    Malcrof Posts: 5,971 Chairperson of the Boards
    God Doom - Boss Fight only.. would unbalance the game if made playable... ala Galactus.

    If we went by the Comics.. Sentry would be a 5*, as would Carol Danvers ...

    Squirrel Girl would be a boss fight, not a playable.. she can solo take down anyone...

    I am good with SS and Pheonix as 5*, OML should be the 2*, with XFW at 5*, Patch the 3* and the current 2* promoted to 4*

    Peter Parker would get nothing above 2*, i think he peaks at bagman.
  • Eddiemon
    Eddiemon Posts: 1,470 Chairperson of the Boards
    You can't guess it. Nothing maps.

    Iron man is a 1, 3 and 4 star. Now you could argue that his 4 star is his most powerful incarnation, but then thor is a 2,3 and 4 star and 4 star thor is his weakest incarnation. (Norse god with Mjolnir bonuses vs human with Mjolnir bonuses)

    Spider-Man is popular but the least popular spider man will be 4 star. Doom is a more popular and powerful bad guy than kingpin.

    Old man Logan isn't a time travelling badass, he's from an alternative dimension. His healing factor has slowed down and he's generally the least powerful wolverine in comics. For most of his comic run he was a pacifist. (On the plus side he did kill all the other Xmen in his universe so he does have a track record)
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Malcrof wrote:
    Peter Parker would get nothing above 2*, i think he peaks at bagman.

    ****. At least one 3 *, right? Or do you think Sinistre Six, Mysterio, Venom, and others would be defeated by someone Level 2?

    About Logan, I think you have prejudices, with old. You can even disagree that he is not strong enough nor leadership (there is no one to fight alongside him because they are all dead), but worse than Patch no way. It could even be the Logan similar to what you said: 5 * XFW; 4 * X-men (classic); 3 * OML and 2 * Patch. Only miss 1 * (Weapon-X).
  • ZootSax
    ZootSax Posts: 1,819 Chairperson of the Boards
    Malcrof wrote:
    Squirrel Girl would be a boss fight, not a playable.. she can solo take down anyone...

    With Squirrel Girl, from what I have heard (haven't read the comics, personally), she's reasonably a 3*, but jumps to an unplayable boss fight when she does things off-panel icon_e_smile.gif
  • Tryke
    Tryke Posts: 320 Mover and Shaker
    Seems like people generally look at rarity and the first thought is implied power level of a character. I can certainly understand that.

    How about character aesthetic? Does a character need to be super cool/awesome/badass to have a higher rarity? Juggernaut is supposedly a magically large strong guy, Avatar of Cyttorak something, but he's also a 1*. Kingpin is a big dude who is the head of a crime syndicate, so he's a 4*.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Tryke wrote:
    Seems like people generally look at rarity and the first thought is implied power level of a character. I can certainly understand that.

    How about character aesthetic? Does a character need to be super cool/awesome/badass to have a higher rarity? Juggernaut is supposedly a magically large strong guy, Avatar of Cyttorak something, but he's also a 1*. Kingpin is a big dude who is the head of a crime syndicate, so he's a 4*.

    Exactly. Who only considers strength bet are children. By the argument of them, Juggernaut should be better Users ranked than Kingpin since in the direct fight Juggernaut would be the winner.

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