I'll give our experience from last weekend.
We do hoppers personally and I have a very hard time locking ourselves into a park with no flexibility about going to another. If you don't mind staying in 1 park the whole time skip Park Hopper.
On MaxPass we didn't do it last Friday and we got frustrated.
1) they were letting in so little from the SB line in the early part of the day it wasn't even funny. Like 5 or 6 people go then hoards from the FP line and no we didn't get there at the parks at the crack of dawn (though we did get there not toi too long after opening of the parks) so the distribution time wasn't til later so we would opt for SB. Don't even get me started on us trying to get in RSR when it was listed at 25min wait that turned into a nightmare. The pulling of the FP at the kiosks can work but it was often for a decent amount later and inconvenient time. We became part of this problem when we bought MP the 2nd two days and I hate that aspect.
2) We were able to get by that first day but we ended up just more frustrated. Had the crowds stayed lower we may but not completely sure may have not gotten MP the other two days.
We got it the 2nd and 3rd day as the crowds picked up.
1) FP would show unavailable in the app as far as distribution but with MP it would be available to select. Different pools of FP is how this can occur.
2) We were able to pick up cancelled from other people FP for several rides including HM which was slammed with people and quickly had return times through the kiosks as late into the evening even faster than RSR. This is likely due to the overlay. HM wait times were generally high too. Picked up a TSMM cancelled FP with MP when FP distribution was done for the day. Hyperspace Mountain was also an example where the return time with MP was hours earlier than with the kiosk.
3) There was 1 time where even though we had MP we pulled from BTMRR kiosk because it had a return time right then as opposed to a tad later via MP so it can work out that the kiosks can at times be better--I say that because if you get MP don't forget the kiosks are still an option.
We got our tickets by the way through
UT and they were like $650 for 3 day park hopper (comes with 1 Magic Morning) as opposed to Disney directly which I want to say was $710. You can def. save money with a 3rd party retailer which may make it easier to opt to get MP when you feel it's necessary. UT does however now sell ticket options that include MP eith them. However keep in mind dynamic pricing is at play so what Disney directly charges will depend on when you go.