The point of my post was that a lot of the flavor of the races are in the actual racial abilities, which is where the racial flavor should come from. A +2 makes orcs better at being barbarians and fighters than other races, but it's a poor representation of their superhuman strength and resilience compared to Powerful Build. Which, yes, I know they already had. I said as much in my first post in this thread. That doesn't change that it is a better way to represent raw physicality than the ASI bonus was. At least in my opinion.
A lot of your specific complaints were that the removed ASI bonuses (and certain sub-race features) weren't replaced by new traits to reflect what was lost, and you know what? In that we agree. I definitely wouldn't mind say, elves getting a free Proficiency in Acrobatics to represent their biological superhuman balance and agility. Or maybe something like Advantage on checks against things that might knock them off their feet. Just like I feel Dragonborn need a little extra (potentially something like Powerful Build to represent their natural strength, or maybe a naked AC bonus to represent their scales and physical toughness) could use a little extra.
Racial ASIs being moved to background is a great change in my opinion because background representing our characters' lifestyle and training and where the focus of their Attribute Bonuses would be makes sense. But that doesn't mean I want races to be less unique. If anything I want more racial abilities because while they can slightly gravitate toward certain group roles they also tend to be useful or flavorful for most classes. I'd much rather be a halfling barbarian who can slide between an enemy's legs using my nimbleness and small stature AND ALSO be able to hit 16 in my primary attribute rather than not.
+1 that races need more to be unique and racial features more impactful, if WotC is going to continue with the lack of racial ASIs. Powerful Build in particular is so...not impactful. I can lift/push/carry more, hooray! So I basically get to be the party pack mule (until we get bags of holding)...
If Powerful Build gave Expertise or Advantage on Athletics checks or actually affected grappling (e.g., allowed you to grapple larger creatures and/or prevented smaller creatures from grappling you), then that would actually be impactful. At the absolute minimum it should be harder for me to be moved while grappled and/or shoved. But it doesn't give those things, and thus feels like a largely useless feature that doesn't really help (me at least) feel like I'm playing an Orc or Firbolg or whatever.
I agree with you. It WotC added those types of racial abilities to all races, then I'd be much happier with the floating ASIs. Orcs would still be strong; Elves would still be dexterous, haflings would still be nimble, etc, AND all race-class combos could still start with 16 in their primary. There would still be race-class synergies, but it'd be more like synergetic moves rather than raw stat bonuses.
