When it comes to vampires, I'd say the most important thing is to have ones that fit properly into the story and world you're setting up. Since their lore and depictions are so flexible there's no excuse for a writer not to pick and chose to get a version that works for their story. Frex, Warhammer vampires with massively superhuman stats and powerful supernatural abilities and spellcasting would incredibly OP for for a grounded modern urban setting, but they work just fine for a high fantasy wargame.

Bottom line, I think what kind of vampire you like just depends on what sort of stories you want to read about vampires.

In general, I'm fairly fond of vampires that come in multiple flavors (World of Darkness, Dresden, Warhammer, etc) since it gives some more variety to work with and because the lore on them is so diverse its easy to have multiple kinds of vamps. If vampires are a significant part of the setting and present in numbers, it makes sense they'd develop some sort of cultural and social variance.

As far as moral compass goes I'm in favor of keeping them mostly monstrous, but not opposed to letting them try to retain some level of humanity. I recall a movie I saw once (can't remember the name) where most of the first act involved the character trying every alternative she could to actually eating people, and none of them quite doing the job. I definitely like the idea of there not being an easy way out of eating people. Blood bags or animals are at best the equivalent of cheap fast food, enough to hold of starvation but not really satisfying.

That said, I have no objection to the vampire trying to be less evil about it (only eating criminals, getting friends to willingly feed them, paying for it, Thomas's attempts to be a friendly vamp in Dresden Files etc). If nothing else, it offers some fun story options about temptation and/or falling off the wagon, and allows one to have a nicely anti-heroic vampire.

 

Gonna have to go with the vampires from Warhammer, Elder Scrolls, World of Darkness, and Underworld for this one.

Dunno why, but all of these universes all deal with vampirism the best way. From outright hatred to them being sympathetic characters that refuse to let their thirst win, or when it does happen, they become this unstoppable monster that has to be put down or somehow manage to overcome their nature with disastrous results afterward.

Best anti-heroes ever and now that I think about it, its time to pull out Bloodlines and play it again.