A good partnership really helps us to identify that this project has potential, Otherwise they certainly won't partner with it.
true, it gives alot of confidence and with partnerships we know the project will actually work somehow.
Take a look at theta, early partnerships in 2018, price was very low, and today it's one of the most promising project..
Having partnerships is as easy as 1-2-3 when you created a coin out of which a certain % is owned by the devs. If devs get money from the project, it's so easy to negotiate a price with an exchange/platform to list your coin or "partner" with it. Listings and partnerships don't really mean much.
listing is not as explosive as the past years. it do have some effects but not that great afaik. unless the token is coming from an unknown exchange to some big guy like binance, coinbase, etc. market is getting smarter, albeit just a little.
I doubt it's getting smarter, I think it's just that the trend is changing. I tend to agree with some of the above answers that nowadays "cryptonomics" start to matter a lot when it comes to picking a coin to invest in. People still seem to be tempted to follow the sheep rather than look after coins for themselves.