but the argument was that Civil Militia was bad because human and half-elf are...popular picks??? Like, I really don't get the intention.
That's not even remotely what the complaint is.
Please work on your reading comprehension, ok?
Why would you just admit that you didn't read OP's post? That's weird, man. Here, I'll include the excerpt
again with added formatting just for you:
Human: If you WANTED PEOPLE TO PLAY HUMAN LESS, why wouldn't you JUST REMOVE THEM FROM THE GAME?? I understand the potential frustration, but I feel as if PEOPLE WOULD PICK HUMAN NO MATTER WHAT, because they're the RACE THAT'S GOOD for a first playthrough in A LOT OF PEOPLE'S MINDS. So, can we at least change their civil militia racial feature to some sort of choice feature?
Half-Elf: They have the SAME PROBLEM AS HUMAS with civil militia. This should just be replaced with a bonus proficiency, imo.
Let me know if this helps!