Like everyone has said, a large majority of altcoins that are released are primarily scams.  But, that doesn't mean that other altcoins out there aren't doing good in terms of innovation.  I'm not going to say which ones, just because it will come off as me personally trying to pump shit on my own; but I truly believe there are some out there that are doing good for the cryptocurrency space.

The end game of these altcoins, I believe, is to try and test out certain theories Bitcoin Core isn't willing or capable of trying.