D&D 5E (2014) Rank the Official 5e Adventures (Updated)

[Retreater]

Re: RotFM, I haven't read it, but from what I've read about it it seems like they were trying to take the quest structure from the essentials kit in order to create a sandbox with lots of player choice and moving, interacting parts. Do people dislike this structure (preferring a more linear plot), or is it that the quests themselves were not enjoyable?

I haven't read the Essentials Kit, so I can't respond to how well RotFM implements that structure. Here's what I can say about why this didn't work for us.
1) The BBEG and situation in Icewind Dale is so terrible that no good-aligned party will want to aimlessly wander through a frozen wasteland to explore when the entire region has devolved into cannibalism, human sacrifice, and starvation.
2) The quests present no tangible rewards. There are no magic items, not even decent mundane treasure. My players are 6th level and the fighter couldn't even afford breastplate without me handwaving the cost.
3) The encounters are badly designed. They are deadly or so easy there's little reason to do it.
4) The Ten Towns are all presented with next to no information. Even the largest towns have only 2-3 places detailed.

So if the point of the adventure was to locate a lost treasure in a hidden city, then that works for sandbox style play. Having a metaplot about an evil goddess destroying all life with a curse, that's something that needs a linear framework. RotFM wants both and succeeds at neither.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Chillin' with a Lagavulin 16 year
Lost Mines of Phandelver
Curse of Strahd

A hot day with some Casa Dragones Blanco
Tales from the Yawning Portal
Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Tomb of Annihilation

A cocktail made with call drinks
Storm King’s Thunder
Tyranny of Dragons
Rime of the Frost Maiden

A Mr. Boston Cocktail
Out of the Abyss
Waterdeep Dragon Heist
Waterdeep Dungeon of the Mad Mage
Princes of the Apocalypse

Running into a bunch of Bards in the local tavern drinking Natty Light
Descent into Avernus
Horde of the Dragon Queen

 

[Retreater]

And when they got to the final dungeon/lost city, they actually stopped doing the detail work as well.

Yes. Just a cartoonish illustration of the general layout of the city with only one of 20+ locations actually mapped. Completely unusable.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Top Tier – only minor issues (if any)
1. Curse of Strahd
2. Lost Mines of Phandelver
3. Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Mid Tier- can be good with some work; or just “ho-hum” in delivery
4. Dragon Heist
5. Candlekeep Mysteries
6. Rime of the Frost Maiden
7. Descent into Avernus
8. Out of the Abyss
Lower Tier – needs some polish to come together as a campaign; or glaring issues that need to be addressed
9. Tomb of Annihilation
10. Dungeon of the Mad Mage

I do not own others. I haven't put anything in the Failure tier, is I think all of the published material is useable with work.

Some I'll mention specifically, as they are different than the OP's; Ghosts of Salmarsh is just great. I don't think in needs much work to make it work, it just does. The adventures don't entirely flow into each other, but they are in the same setting so don't really need to. It's very good.

The worst adventures; Tomb of Annihilation is bad. Well, it's good, it's structure is just horrendous. The PCs are there to do one thing; find the source of the Death Curse, and end it. That goal is extremely linear, but the setting (Chult) is a sandbox hexcrawl. The PCs have no incentive for exploring all the locations, or even most of the locations. They have to willingly take a bunch of sidequests, which is illogical considering the high stakes of the main quest. There are also a lot of side-locations that are just totally out-of-the-way of the final Tomb. Even worse, the leveling and encounter balance is terrible; the PCs should level to 5 very fast if you use XP, and at that point all the encounters are extremely hard or extremely easy. Anyway, I tried running this, and it very quickly fell apart; it's a complete mess mechanically, structurally, and narratively.

Dungeon of the Mad Mage is even worse, solely because it's a giant megadungeon with no story. You have to have a very specific group of players who want to do dungeons, and nothing but dungeons, over a very long period of time. If these players exist, I haven't met any.

 

[Stormonu]

I am feeling very put out by the high ranking of Tomb. I feel like we are halfway through the adventure and it has been nothing but misery for me - I’m not even sure which encounters or plot lines have been used (other than a mention of “the death curse”, a rather boring fight with Nas-what’s-his-name, and a couple cube fetch quests). For those that have run it, what makes this adventure any good? What am I missing out on?

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I am feeling very put out by the high ranking of Tomb. I feel like we are halfway through the adventure and it has been nothing but misery for me - I’m not even sure which encounters or plot lines have been used (other than a mention of “the death curse”, a rather boring fight with Nas-what’s-his-name, and a couple cube fetch quests). For those that have run it, what makes this adventure any good? What am I missing out on?

Then sandbox itself, without the big plot, and the gonzo dungeon at the end are pretty awesome.

If you use it as a more old-school hexcrawl where the goal is to adventure and loot some stuff, it is really well done.

 

[Retreater]

I am feeling very put out by the high ranking of Tomb. I feel like we are halfway through the adventure and it has been nothing but misery for me - I’m not even sure which encounters or plot lines have been used (other than a mention of “the death curse”, a rather boring fight with Nas-what’s-his-name, and a couple cube fetch quests). For those that have run it, what makes this adventure any good? What am I missing out on?

My high ranking of it is because of a couple of factors. First, I think the last dungeon is great. Second, I've run it a couple of times, allowing me to know what works and doesn't.
Ras-Nsi (your boring fight), ended up being a high stakes diplomatic encounter. The hexcrawl portion I ended up hand-waving after a certain point (otherwise it could've taken the group years to get through at our rate). The Death Curse should be taken out of the adventure, because it's so punishing for groups.
Port Nyanzaru is a vibrant, interesting, and well detailed city. Chult has a lot of character and it's very different than the typical, default Sword Coast setting. There's dinosaurs, ruined civilizations, undead, jungle survival. I think if you like these classic adventure tropes - and the DM runs it well - it can be a lot of fun. (But like if you're not into Gothic horror, you also may not like Curse of Strahd.)
That said, my high ranking is just in comparison to most of the other 5e mega adventures - which are pretty "meh" or terrible.

 

[Bolares]

and more enjoyable than the wet thud of Dragon Heist

I'm still pissed there's no Heist in it

 

[Zaukrie]

The most interesting thing in this thread is how few people even mention Dragons of Icespire Peak.....

 

[Retreater]

The most interesting thing in this thread is how few people even mention Dragons of Icespire Peak.....

I guess when they release a new starter set nearly 5 years after the basic game, a forum of (mostly) seasoned players aren't going to pay it much mind. (See also no reviews on here of Stranger Things, Rick & Morty.)