Just popping in to say I absolutely agree with the OP! It all comes down to player choice, and if you're going to trade on a vibrant and varied Character Creator, it can't hurt to add more choice officially, not just leave it up to Modders. (I say this with complete faith that there's more faces in the works, I know the racial flags I've seen, but I do hope there's more added to the current races too!)
Even the new LotR game is looking to diversify its elves because they realised it's past time to put away the childish argument that 'ethereal = white'. It took World of Warcraft until this very expac to finally allow Blood Elves, a race which worships the Sun, dark skin--but they did it! And people are still crying Lore over it! They worship the SUN, people! The big tanning orb in the SKY!
There will, unfortunately, always be people that complain their immersion is ruined if they see a black elf, or an asian elf, or anything other than a 70s Ralph Bakshi elf. They cling to, as already said a hundred times above and even by Wizards themselves, a wholly outdated version of fictional race. It's not impossible to translate black features, asian features, middle eastern features into 'elven' looks, but at it's core:
Some of these races exist. They have real effects on real people, and having the tangible opportunity to make a pretty, ethereal creature look like someone you could feasibly be in fantasy can only further invite you into a space you've historically been underrepresented in for too long.
Some of these races are not real, and they do not experience any real world consequences to their race being bickered and hissed over. Because they do not exist. They can be anything you imagine them to be, and if not you, anything anyone else can imagine them to be too.
Anyway last point: I'm Indian and Larian if you're out there: More! Hook! Noses! Please!
