I admit that I'm old enough that I put wizards in robes because any such abilities would just let your magic-user wear armor but didn't let you cast spells in armor because arcane spellcasting didn't work with armor--period. Also, dwarves couldn't cast arcane spells anyway, so they weren't in the conversation. But that was forty years and roughly half-a-dozen editions ago.
As for the change in racial stats, I really think it may not have been Larian's choice. WoTC has been pushing these changes to character creation ever since they came out in Tasha's, largely for philosophical reasons. Now, while I'm sure Larian has had a lot of freedom in game design, I'm thinking that character creation is the one area where WoTC would be most likely to lay down the law because they want to keep it aligned with their overall philosophical goals for diversity and equality.
