Personally, 'utility' is the major thing for me. There is no point in having something that solves nothing or provides no value. Second would be censorship resistance. That's the major catch for cryptocurrncy. Adoption comes last because I strongly believe a lot of crypto projects are undervalued and the entire crypto sphere is still yet to go mainstream but like you pointed out there are other factors to consider like the level of development and number of developed backing the project.

I will also like to add 'communities'. The communities surrounding the project determines it's growth. Steem can boost of an active community and that has helped the entire ecosystem so far.

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