A couple interesting things I noticed in Heroes of Shadow

[IanB]

I suspect the Essentials organization of placing the race after the class (it is like that in the Heroes of X books as well, as well as in the character builder now I think) is intended to make the "choice" of making a new character along the lines of "pick a class, then find a race that fits it" instead of "pick a race, then try to find a class that fits your ability scores" or whatever. Experienced players might find the new organization jarring, but I bet new players fall into fewer bad combinations this way - if they already know their chosen class needs strength when it comes time to pick a race, they're probably more likely to pick something with a strength bonus.

That'd be my guess anyway.