…If a playable race keeps being reprinted, it's a sign it's essential……….haaaa Um No. It can be fan service. Padding the page count. EVILLLY Marketing deal. (Pss gyro and others will buy the new splat book if Goblins are in it.) It is an author or company favorite. (Shoot if we drop Goliaths Mike said he would quit and take a third of the creative staff.
I skipped 4E and only played 3.5E to about 2004. So any race not in the AD&D (1E) PHB are new to me. And are not really needed. I did not read or retained what I read of the TRS novels set in the various novels so again some of the races are just fan service.
@gyor thanks for the various lore posts. But some of us thing lore is a bore.
Greyhawk in 1E seem to get a lot of the Kitchen sink stuff (Wild west, Space craft, write ups of fiction characters as npcs.) But the realms seem to said “Here hold my beer” And went out and bought the industrial kitchen sink, the Hobart, and granny’s washtub so it could contain anything from Anime, Space Fiction, Mad max, and Heavy Metal.