Am I the only one who doesn't like these fantastical races with spectral wings and animal heads being basic PHB races instead of supplement material? We already have Dragonborn and Tieflings, now pureblood Orcs and Ardlings. Elves are more magical than ever with all of them becoming spellcasters. It's a bit much. D&D or Forgotten Realms is becoming more and more high fantasy. Humans, Halflings, Dwarves and Elves are starting to feel bland because they don't have fire breath, eagle heads or magic wings. How does an Ardling with a toad's head even speak unless it's a Disney cartoon for children?
I hope they develop a more low fantasy setting for players who prefer a more LotR or GoT style fantasy. Greyhawk? A change from Forgotten Realms would be really welcome anyway.
You're definitely not alone, I feel pretty much the same about the freakshow D&D is becoming with it's overly fantastical core races.
I wonder if they'll rework various settings to fit their freak races in, for example Krynn has neither Drow or Orcs and neither does Athas (Dark Sun) as far as I know.
On a sidenote: One funny thing I noticed is how the "humans are boring, cause I'm a human in RL" crowd play their elf/dwarf/freak race characters exactly as a human, just with pointy ears or beast heads/scales/whatever. There is rarely a hint in the way they RP to make the characters feel different from a human. At least in my experience.
