Back then, very few will focus their research on the use case of the coin. So I really don't blame the OP as we had that kind of thinking before. But then more and more coins were launched and turned out to be crap. And so most of us learned lessons from these crap projects.
Is there a project out here without a use case? No, they all have but what we dont know is the demand for the use case? In the bear market most of the use cases didnt make the coin thrive more than bitcoin and few coins. The space has it fundamental on the cycle of market. I also think team is also as important as the project. Binance and BNB is a good example of an idea and the team, even in the bear BNB made good money among other exchange coin. I wont encourage holding any altcoin into the bear market, it is a risk I wont try again.