Gonna seperate this between Rulebooks and adventures.
Best Book, IMO: It's a huge toss-up between Volo's Guide to Monsters and Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
Both books delibered exactly what I wanted, new races, new classes, new monsters and new rules. I like almost everything about those two books. Xanathar's is probably most used on the Player side while Volo's gets tons of use on the DM side from all the monsters.
Worst Book, IMO: Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.
I don't particularly care for the monsters in this book, they didn't grab my attention the way Volo's did. The exception being the new kinds of trolls and ogres. I also don't care much for the lore. I'm a newcomer to D&D really, didn't start "seriously" until 5e's launch and so I'm not familiar with a lot of the controversial lore changes (beside new raven queen sucks apparently) but even so I didn't find any of the stuff presented interesting, gripping, or ultimately useful. Player options were sparse but I like the Eladrin. Overall this book gets the least use and I probably wouldn't miss it if I didn't have it.
Best Adventure, IMO: Curse of Strahd.
Oh, I almost said LMoP, but Curse of Strahd is too delicious not to go with. A perfect little micro-setting you could adventure in for awhile. Oozing charm and atmosphere and a great overall villain. Plus a bit of sandbox feel and enough minor adventures to get you to 9 or 10, Curse of Strahd was probably WoTC's masterpiece for 5e. Because of its flavor its not everyone's cup of tea but it was a good one.
A close runner up is Ghosts of Saltmarsh. first time I got excited for a D&D book while reading it in awhile. The collection of adventurers are nice, straightforward affairs and the new rules are great. But what excited me the most was the micro gazetteer of Saltmarsh. With so many Power Groups, manipulators and Key NPCs, I felt like that town was a hotbed of Intrigue, perfect for extra adventures and a really exciting first look at Greyhawk for someone who's never played in it.
Worst Adventure, IMO: Dragon Heist
I didn't run this, I played in it, but I found myself struggling with adventure motivation and keeping track of all the plot threads and NPCs, it ultimately just didn't seem to tie together that well and a lot of the things expected of us were random or really tough. I thought this may have just been our DM but I've seen other complaints elsewhere and I figure this could just be the adventure. It's the only adventure I'll say wasn't overwhelming positively from me. My group left HotDQ, PotA, ToA and STK even with their issues but I found Dragon Heist lacking. In general I don't think most WoTC adventures are well written to begin with.
Best Book, IMO: It's a huge toss-up between Volo's Guide to Monsters and Xanathar's Guide to Everything.
Both books delibered exactly what I wanted, new races, new classes, new monsters and new rules. I like almost everything about those two books. Xanathar's is probably most used on the Player side while Volo's gets tons of use on the DM side from all the monsters.
Worst Book, IMO: Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes.
I don't particularly care for the monsters in this book, they didn't grab my attention the way Volo's did. The exception being the new kinds of trolls and ogres. I also don't care much for the lore. I'm a newcomer to D&D really, didn't start "seriously" until 5e's launch and so I'm not familiar with a lot of the controversial lore changes (beside new raven queen sucks apparently) but even so I didn't find any of the stuff presented interesting, gripping, or ultimately useful. Player options were sparse but I like the Eladrin. Overall this book gets the least use and I probably wouldn't miss it if I didn't have it.
Best Adventure, IMO: Curse of Strahd.
Oh, I almost said LMoP, but Curse of Strahd is too delicious not to go with. A perfect little micro-setting you could adventure in for awhile. Oozing charm and atmosphere and a great overall villain. Plus a bit of sandbox feel and enough minor adventures to get you to 9 or 10, Curse of Strahd was probably WoTC's masterpiece for 5e. Because of its flavor its not everyone's cup of tea but it was a good one.
A close runner up is Ghosts of Saltmarsh. first time I got excited for a D&D book while reading it in awhile. The collection of adventurers are nice, straightforward affairs and the new rules are great. But what excited me the most was the micro gazetteer of Saltmarsh. With so many Power Groups, manipulators and Key NPCs, I felt like that town was a hotbed of Intrigue, perfect for extra adventures and a really exciting first look at Greyhawk for someone who's never played in it.
Worst Adventure, IMO: Dragon Heist
I didn't run this, I played in it, but I found myself struggling with adventure motivation and keeping track of all the plot threads and NPCs, it ultimately just didn't seem to tie together that well and a lot of the things expected of us were random or really tough. I thought this may have just been our DM but I've seen other complaints elsewhere and I figure this could just be the adventure. It's the only adventure I'll say wasn't overwhelming positively from me. My group left HotDQ, PotA, ToA and STK even with their issues but I found Dragon Heist lacking. In general I don't think most WoTC adventures are well written to begin with.
