What makes an MPQ character good?

entrailbucket

I'd like to see people's answers to this, because it feels like players have very widely diverging opinions on the topic.

How many MPQ characters, currently in the game/on your roster, are good (feel free to substitute some synonyms here, like "strong," or "powerful")?

Who are those characters, and what do they have in common? There are no wrong answers.

PS if "good" is too difficult or generic, who's bad, and what makes someone bad?

DAZ0273

I enjoy it when they help me win.

Colognoisseur

First quality for me is do I have fun playing it. Chasm was one of the best characters released. I hated the style of play that enforced. I didn’t play Chasm and found other options that allowed me to beat Chasm in a style I enjoyed playing. In the almost eleven years I’ve been playing this has always been what makes a character good, do I have fun using it.

JaGo

Board shake
A great passive that always does something
True heals
A decent AOE
Fast but not as important to me as the others

Edit: Also what DAZ said.

-JaGo

KGB

@DAZ0273 said:
I enjoy it when they help me win.

So you love them all then or think they are all good then since there is no character that helps you lose either activity or passively.

KGB

ThisisClemFandango

@KGB said:

@DAZ0273 said:
I enjoy it when they help me win.

So you love them all then or think they are all good then since there is no character that helps you lose either activity or passively.

KGB

I would counter this supposition with black knight
I'm fairly certain he hates not only the player but the entire game itself.

entrailbucket

I guess I can answer my own question. There's 3 tiers of characters in MPQ right now:

1 - "Good all the time"
2 - "Good when boosted"
3 - "Bad all the time, even when boosted"

I'm pretty bad at identifying which tier I'm talking about when I say someone is good. I think I should start being more specific.

In general I consider everybody in Tiers 1 and 2 to be "good." Everybody in Tier 3 is "bad." Others can (and maybe we all should?) only consider Tier 1 characters "good."

Tier 3 is really small and continues to shrink, luckily, but it absolutely does exist. I've got characters at 550 that are completely unplayable in any format, even when they're boosted to 672. (OML was on this list, for example). They haven't released a new Tier 3 in a pretty long time, though, in any star level.

DAZ0273

@KGB said:

@DAZ0273 said:
I enjoy it when they help me win.

So you love them all then or think they are all good then since there is no character that helps you lose either activity or passively.

KGB

Well I just finished covering every single 5* so yeah! No more Classics right now today! Might be a while before I can finally champ them coz the iso situation is harsh!

But I will use any 5* on their boost week!

LavaManLee

@entrailbucket said:
I guess I can answer my own question. There's 3 tiers of characters in MPQ right now:

1 - "Good all the time"
2 - "Good when boosted"
3 - "Bad all the time, even when boosted"

I'm pretty bad at identifying which tier I'm talking about when I say someone is good. I think I should start being more specific.

In general I consider everybody in Tiers 1 and 2 to be "good." Everybody in Tier 3 is "bad." Others can (and maybe we all should?) only consider Tier 1 characters "good."

Tier 3 is really small and continues to shrink, luckily, but it absolutely does exist. I've got characters at 550 that are completely unplayable in any format, even when they're boosted to 672. (OML was on this list, for example). They haven't released a new Tier 3 in a pretty long time, though, in any star level.

I really appreciate you breaking this down. To me, I don't care about 2 or 3. I don't want a character good only when boosted. Those aren't interesting (again, to me). I feel that the only "good" characters are those in category 1.

entrailbucket

@LavaManLee said:

@entrailbucket said:
I guess I can answer my own question. There's 3 tiers of characters in MPQ right now:

1 - "Good all the time"
2 - "Good when boosted"
3 - "Bad all the time, even when boosted"

I'm pretty bad at identifying which tier I'm talking about when I say someone is good. I think I should start being more specific.

In general I consider everybody in Tiers 1 and 2 to be "good." Everybody in Tier 3 is "bad." Others can (and maybe we all should?) only consider Tier 1 characters "good."

Tier 3 is really small and continues to shrink, luckily, but it absolutely does exist. I've got characters at 550 that are completely unplayable in any format, even when they're boosted to 672. (OML was on this list, for example). They haven't released a new Tier 3 in a pretty long time, though, in any star level.

I really appreciate you breaking this down. To me, I don't care about 2 or 3. I don't want a character good only when boosted. Those aren't interesting (again, to me). I feel that the only "good" characters are those in category 1.

I think this is a perfectly rational and probably optimal way of looking at things, and I suspect that a lot of folks, maybe the majority here, agree with you.

WhiteBomber

In no specific order. Removing fun factor because that is fully subjective, then broken down in to groups that are as objective as I had time for / that are relevant to winning and in turn progression.

These are of course all still opinions in the end and my experience will naturally vary from others, especially in other areas of progression (550's etc). Regardless, you have likely also played as or against the majority of these in their corresponding categories significantly more so than others not on this list, there is a reason for this, a reason I attribute to being "objectively good". However, just because they fall in one group, does not mean they are not good at others, just means in my experience, that’s where they excel most AND, just because they aren't on this list doesn't mean they aren't usable or are bad, I just don't consider them good when compared to the others, especially at the higher levels. Can't have the good without the not good.

Context Really Matters

• I have most 5 stars at a playable level, all other characters with all covers, but the majority of my top 5's are roughly 5-15 levels over champ (I intentionally balance my leveling of characters as much as possible). So, there are surely other 3 and 4 star characters that will climb as they see ascension.
• This list only considers characters at level 5, rarely (May etc.) are non 5 stars good outside of their native level.
• "God boost" and supports not taken in to account as they can carry just about anyone, though both of those things only make these characters excel even more.

A league of their own (Unrivaled in 1 or more specialties. Likely part of very fast or difficult teams. If you have just these characters you can win / excel at basically everything.)

• Omega Red5
• Shang Chi
• Mighty Thor
• Chasm
• Iron May
• Coulson
• Darkveil (if this one is confusing, you likely just haven't played him enough)

PVP Offense

• Jubilee5
• Beta Ray
• Juggernaut1
• Polaris
• Spiderman1
• HalfThor

PVP Defense

• Dr Strange5
• Colossus5
• Scarlet Witch5
• Hulk Immortal
• M'Baku
• Black King
• Blob
• Rogue

PVE Speed

• Kang
• Okoye
• Aunt May5
• Deathlok
• Juggernaut4
• Rocket and Groot4

Niche and less good because of it (Saves on health packs and specializes in something like board manipulation, SAPs, defense etc. Smaller list of specific partners required to make them shine.)

• Kitty Pryde5
• Karnak
• HEvo
• Electro Frye5
• Riri5
• Apoc5, eh.
• Wolverine X-Force
• Yellowjacket
• Hawkeye5
• America Chavez
• Medusa
• MoonDragon
• Beast4
• Spiderman India
• Doop
• Dr Bong
• Miles4
• SpiderGwen4
• Ikarus
• Vulture4
• Northstar
• Nightcrawler4
• Multiple Man
• Melinda May
• Dock Ock4
• Arcade3
• Puck
• Iceman5
• Magneto5
• Storm5
• Scarlet Witch3
• Thanos5
• Loki3
• Magic3
• Silk
• Doom4
• Nico4
• Sinister5
• Goose5

entrailbucket

@WhiteBomber I think your answer is somewhere in between mine and @LavaManLee.

It's interesting that a number of the guys on your list are guys I'd consider Tier 2 -- I'd never even think about using them unboosted. That may be related to roster, playstyle, or matchmaking though.