Want a weak half orc? Have one with strength 5. Minimum 3 plus 2 fir racial bonus. Boom weak half orc. This could ALWAYS be done..ALWAYS.
That's why I'll always say that the only people hurt by solid rules are minmaxers in tabletop.
There's more arguments to be made for a game that *can't foresee all*. Even so, just download a mod and leave the game functional for all the new players who are not familiar with D&D. You're providing a worse experience for 99 people for maybe every 1 person it could help. That just doesn't check out for me and I won't support it.
I think the only people hurt by this are those who value believable world building and world logic and want their characters to operate within this logic i.e. be a part of the world. I count myself among those people. Newcomers and especially casuals who don't care about immersing themselves into the world - for them those racial ability bonuses are just inconvenient numbers that stand in a way of playing whatever they want.
I have to say, hard rules help me immerse myself in games much more quickly. They're replacements for deeper concepts, at least temporarily. I'm not just saying that as a throwaway remark. I value personality, even when that personality is sometimes "doesn't allow me to walk through a wall without consequences".
I have the most fun in more complicated systems, the sort where you need to test what works... and how much you can safely ignore. That +1 lost from an unoptimized build is not something I care about.
