I can't remember all the details of how I ran it (8 years ago). On the other hand, the fact that I can remember it at all I think is a good sign, in terms of the play experience that we had!your example from Night's Far Reach, the encounter is extremely significant to the plot, its the establishing event for a lot of what can happen beyond that IIRC. I'm not super familiar with the module, but certainly it isn't just some sort of "you were going down the river, this obnoxious crap happened, now survive" kind of thing. There are actual goals.
I'm pretty sure that I would have made it clear - through symbols, NPCs pronouncements, whatever - that these were Bane cultists, because that would have engaged at least one or two PC directly. Plus there is the the question of "Why are they trying to stop us, what's going on here, etc?" And then there is the practicality of "They're trying to swarm our boat and kill us, so we better defend ourselves!"
I think the last thing I mentioned - ie the PCs need to stop themselves being killed by attacking cultists - is probably the biggest difference between the Night's Dark Terror encounter and hobgoblin room number 3 of 7. That latter set up seems basically static, and the hobgoblins (as you describe it; I don't know the module well at all) seem basically to be an obstacle, rather than a threat. Where's the action? (Answer: missing in action.)Contrast this with room 3 of a run of (IIRC) 7 rooms full of hobgoblins in KoTS which you engage with for no other more meaningful reason than "these guys are in the way". They don't offer any choices beyond the most basic tactical 'how do I kill this?' nor do they add to the story, etc. This type of encounter should simply not exist. If you feel it MUST exist for 'color' then wrap several of them together, add some minions, and make it spread over the whole 7 rooms. At least it might not be utterly static...
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