Should D&D (or any other RPG) actually attempt to be "All Things to All People"?

[Beginning of the End]

This has been an issue since WOTC bought TSR in 1996/7-ish. Those late 2E modules were awful, as were the vast majority of 3.X module and super adventures, and the 4E ones are simply following the trend.

The 1996-1999 time period was actually something of a second golden age for AD&D modules. In general, when you have threads crop up asking for the "best official adventures" they tend to broadly fall into three categories:

(1) Stuff from 1979-1984. (A series, G series, S series, T1, D series, Q1, etc.)

(2) Stuff from 1996-1999. (Dead Gods, Firestorm Peak, Paladin in Hell, Return to the Tomb of Horrors, etc.)

(3) Stuff produced by Paizo.

The big notable exceptions to these categories are the two big classics from Judges Guild* (Caverns of Thracia & Dark Tower) and some of the early 3E stuff (usually Sunless Citadel, Forge of Fury, and Return to Temple of Elemental Evil).

* I know that's not actually official, but they always seem to get grandfathered into these discussions.

The large fallow periods in official adventure modules are pretty consistently identified as 1985-1995 and 2002-today.