It is hard to say that Altcoins will be a waste of time. I find that many of the have unique features that make them unique and interesting.
The opposite is also true; some of them have no unique features and nothing behind them in terms or development or merchant adoption. Most are just clones and get rich quick schemes. Some will survive; some wont; some will become useful and of worth; others wont. It'll be interesting to see what other alt coins merchants start accepting.