I agree with Alkiera. The PCs in my campaign aren't heroes, but they are exceptional. As an example the Warlord is a military school graduate- he has no practical experience, but he's a prodigy when it comes to theory. I'm not planning on starting my 4e campaign in a small village, but even so my PCs are exceptional, but not heroic.
I like the point buy system- it gives the option of min-maxing while acknowledging diversity. Every class has at least 3 stats they can benefit from to some degree (even Fighters need Dex or Con in addition to Str because of weapon types). My favourite array at the moment is 16,16,13,11,10,8; it gives an "average joe" stat in one area, a slight weakness, two areas of genius and 2 others of a competitive level.
I also think it is good that D&D encourages heroic and noble characters. I'm sick of the "orphan" or "peasant" background cliché. Most heroes in history WERE nobles. Peasants were just too poor to do much worthy of notice. Even the legendary peasant hero Robin Hood was originally part of the nobility.
