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One problem with popular side characters is that they often get ruined when the writers notice the popularity and make them appear more and more.
Sometimes the scarcity of something is part of the appeal. This also goes for popular adversaries.
This also goes for popular adversaries.
Especially if they keep getting defeated, which makes them less threatening each time they show up. Looking at you, Borg in VOY. Farscape's writers came up with Harvey specifically so they could have Scorpius make frequent appearances without diminishing his threat level.
That’s why I like Q. Dude just randomly shows up, but never gets defeated.
It also helps that while Q is always a problem, he's rarely an actual antagonist.
Yeah, the sweet spot is when people start obsessing over them in syndication after the series has wrapped up.
Garak was a round character played by an actor that absolutely understood the role. He would have done just fine with more appearances