Not an exact replacement, but if in practice they help people play more games...they might be a pragmatic replacement for an AP.
Yes, it did a fine job. My only thing would be - and I'm not in any way meaning to put down anthologies - is that I think that a better way to do it, would be to expand a single adventure (of any size) to fill a whole book, with subplots and sequels, rather than the (I think clever, but ultimately thin) way that Candlekeep Mysteries, Radiant Citadel, Infinite Staircase, and to a lesser extent Yawning Portal, made an (admittedly usually interesting) centralized access-point to otherwise utterly unrelated material.
I mean, that would have been an excellent place to have thrown in twenty or thirty one-off missions, and a short follow-up sequel adventure. Can you imagine if they just made a whole slew of sites in the area with hooks, both in town and around? I know that several people used the Essentials Kit and the Phandalin starter to make a sandbox. I would have mixed that with a true follow-up sequel and as many side-missions and site-based adventures as I could fit the page-count.
Yeah, not including the Essentials Kit material was an odd decision. For my money, the obvious move would have been to actually develop what the Forge of Spells, where it came from, Who wants to use it, etc.
My suspicion is that it's going to be so much of its own thing that it might mark a big break with what's come before. Pre-ordered it the other day (from a FLGS). Excited for it.
At the very least, have at least one of your anthology adventures take place in the hub. (I guess Saltmarsh did have one, although the haunted house is on the outskirts of the town and not exactly integrated into the rest of it.) Yes, it's great that most of the adventures are portable to home campaigns, but it effectively makes those hubs wasted space if none of the adventures take advantage of them.
If it had just integrated the Essentials Set material, including the DLC for it, I would have been more than satisfied.
Honestly hoping for that!
I think, IIRC, one of the Radiant Citadel ones took place at the Citadel. Either that, or the RC bit had its own adventure. Basically the same thing. But yeah, Yawning Portal is far more a feature in Dungeon of the Mad Mage than it is in Yawning Portal - though I think that was because it WAS for that adventure, but "didn't fit". So they used it as an intro to an anthology. While I don't think that ever worked very well, the basic concept of a reprint-anthology was good enough to carry that book to success.
Indeed, although I think @Parmandur has it right - the Essentials material, the DLCs, a few extras, and a short sequel that solves the mystery of the Forge. You'd have... chef's kiss.
