Altcoins are never really dead. As long as the code is sound anyone can take over a project and bring it back to life after accumulating a large portion of the supply of course.
I'll have to say Eth over Ltc. Litecoin just doesn't seem to have the momentum and eth is doing some really big things. This will become an issue of substances in the following few years.
This is what the plan is. Continue accumulating on the cheap and hold on for the ride. Regardless of a projects potential a general rise in the market seems to bring everything upwards.
This is true and the more time passes the more chains will die off. However there is still always hype around new chains even if they are vaporware to begin with.
Abolsutely important. Without product all you have is hype which can be equally productive but eventually the hype dies if what you're selling is vaporware.