I personally think humans are more interesting than the exotic races, because storewise because you can do a lot with them. And if you make an interesting character from humble/basic beginnings, it feels more rewarding to me. It puts an emphasis on the character's story and development, as well as their development. Most of the time with exotic races, they feel like a crutch for writing, to make them seem special and awesome while without the exotic race bit, they would be dull and uninteresting. The exotic race is their gimmick/identity.
I do think special races can be interesting, as long as they are special and rare. Tieflings would be a good example, they can be interesting and fun but feel less special when you have an entire camp of them. It suddenly makes them common which defeats the purpose of having a special/rare/exotic race in the first place (while they should be storewise). To make these races work it requires a bit more finesse and effort, which is often lacking with these characters to not make them either a meme or gimmick. A shame, that.
