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The question I want to ask is How many 2* champions are there on Marvel Contest of the Champions?

This questions has an answer today, but if the developers add a new character next week the answer will change.

It is a very simple and straightforward question. But I always find myself digging the answer in pages and pages of outdated forums like gamefaqs or kabam. I know that one of the reasons SO was created was to avoid situations like that.

What is SE policy concerning questions with volatile answers?

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  • It usually depends on several factors: 1) Is it useful? Or is it just trivia that has no real utility? And 2) How often does the answer change? I don't play Marvel Champions, but does knowing how many heroes there are at a certain star level really useful?
    – Frank
    Sep 24, 2015 at 1:36
  • Yes, it is useful. If I find out how many 2* champions are there, I will know if I have them all. Then I don't have to participate in some events to get 2* champions anymore... It is basically like knowing which pokemon is found in a certain area. If you collect them all you don't have to come back ;-)
    – ChaoticGabibo
    Sep 24, 2015 at 1:41
  • I guess a similar question would be How many LoL/Dota champions are there?
    – Aequitas
    Sep 24, 2015 at 1:41
  • Minecraft was (and still is) in development with plenty of questions and answers requiring updated information almost every week, especially as bugs were fixed or new features were added. I don't see a problem with it from that angle, although like @Frank I'm wondering if maintaining that sort of list would be useful information? What problem space are you attempting to solve? Is it hard to figure this out in-game?
    – Robotnik Mod
    Sep 24, 2015 at 1:42
  • @Aequitas I don't play LoL/Dota. Do you collect characters on LoL?
    – ChaoticGabibo
    Sep 24, 2015 at 1:42
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    @Robotnik I can't figure it out in-game. It is like having a pokedex without the index... you basically don't know that there is 151 pokemons.
    – ChaoticGabibo
    Sep 24, 2015 at 1:45
  • It's kind of different, but LoL and Dota are far more popular games which this question may be relevant to so I just wanted to point out that similar questions in LoL may have some relevance with this meta question such as questions like "what champions have/can do x" which may change every time a new champion is released which is quite often in these games
    – Aequitas
    Sep 24, 2015 at 1:45
  • @Aequitas When you select your champion or Dota/Lol do you see a list of them all and you can count them one-by-one?
    – ChaoticGabibo
    Sep 24, 2015 at 1:53
  • Not knowing how many are left to get seems counter-intuitive for a F2P game with microtransactions. They can't really get you to keep playing if they don't give you a goal to work towards, and new heroes seems to be the primary motivator to play or buy their currency.
    – Frank
    Sep 24, 2015 at 2:16

2 Answers 2

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What we have here is an XY problem.

Asking the question exactly as you posed it would be problematic, for at least a couple reasons, as I had stated:

  1. Answers wouldn't really have much in the way of utility; it would just be a great big list.
  2. The actual answer would change on a very regular basis.

What I would suggest, though, would be to turn it around; we pride ourselves on our write once, read many Q&A. You have a specific problem, and you've already decided what you want the solution to be. Focus less on your desired solution (a list of 2* champions), and more on what the problem you're having is (Finding said list). If you were to ask something like, "How can I find out how many 2* champions there are?", then we get long term useful answers that can withstand the test of time much better. You might still get the same answer, but you might also find out that list you're looking for is actually in the game somewhere.

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  • Thanks, I'll try that... let's see how it goes ;-)
    – ChaoticGabibo
    Sep 24, 2015 at 3:50
  • And by the way, concerning 1. why would a big list be a problem?
    – ChaoticGabibo
    Sep 24, 2015 at 4:03
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    A list, by itself, tends to just be a large data dump. While sometimes that can be useful, more often, it just detracts from focused answers. List-type answers are more general and less specific, which isn't the type of answer we really want.
    – Frank
    Sep 24, 2015 at 4:08
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Yes, you can ask questions which change regularly, as long as the answer will be useful to others and it shows research effort.

You question is not a good fit for the site because it:

  • Does not show any research.
  • Encourages one line or link only answers.
  • Encourages lists which will quickly be out of date (and unusable by anyone else).

A better question would be "Where on the Marvel Contest of the Champions web site can I find the number of 2* champions?" and in the content ask how to get to it (to prevent them just answering with the link). Realistically thought, this would be better requested from a wiki related to game, as wikis are designed to maintain this type of information.

Do not ask "Where can I find the number of 2* champions?" as this will have the same problems as the original question. If you review What topics can I ask about here? I think it will be more clear. Before posting a question, I make sure that it meets the following criteria:

  • The answer will be a fact
  • Will the answers be useful to other people (not too specialized)
  • Is the answer something that can be answered by the users of the site?
  • Is the question already answered (on the SE site or easily found through Google)?
  • Is the question a good fit for the Q&A format.
  • Is the question one which should not be asked.

The question you suggested does not show or imply research. Did you do a google search and check the game wiki sites? I personally found the data information in my second google search (First search was "Marvel Contest of the Champions" and second was "Marvel Contest of the Champions champion list") on the third link I checked I found the answer.

StackExchange sites are different from other Q&A sites, and they list the differences right on the front page. The emphasis is on helping everyone find the correct answer quickly. If the correct answer can already be found quickly and it is not a question anyone else is asking, then it does not belong on the site. Yes, the Gaming site is less strict the other, well developed sites like StackOverflow, but this is more a result of limited knowledge then a granting of permission.

Checking the question you asked, this is exactly what happened. Seeing the actual content of the question, I can see the correct question is "How do I know if I have all of the 2* Champions?" This is on topic and is not guaranteed going to be a link only answer (or answer which is basically a link to a wiki page and the information you copied from it).

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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
    – fredley
    Oct 8, 2015 at 10:04

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