New Playable Races?

[Firebeetle]

A lot of dislike for a large race. I like Dassull's suggestion of making one for an "Unearthed Arcana" article. Also, I definitely think that is should start as a medium and then go to large. In fact, a Paragon Path for Goliaths and/or Minotaurs could do this now.

The discussion of "what is large" in 4e makes me realize that half-giants are possible. This would definitely fit the bill, starting at a big human size and growing into a larger size over time.

A lot of argument revolves around the whole dogma of D&D. The idea that every single race has to be equal. A campaign doesn't have to be that way at all. You could play a Warforged as a single construct that was created by a wizard long ago. Shardminds could be an order protecting against intrusions from the Far Realms, all shardminds knowing each other well. Minotaurs might be a small population that live in a large, maze-like canyon complex. You could have the Feywild be destroyed, and all fey races like eladrin are refugees in your world.

Increasing races increases options. The call for monster races is pretty loud and clear. Hopefully we will see those. We've yet to see an aquatic race too. After heroic "rocks" and "bushes", getting "Dances with Fishes" shouldn't be too far behind.

 

[DandD]

A lot of argument revolves around the whole dogma of D&D. The idea that every single race has to be equal. A campaign doesn't have to be that way at all. You could play a Warforged as a single construct that was created by a wizard long ago. Shardminds could be an order protecting against intrusions from the Far Realms, all shardminds knowing each other well. Minotaurs might be a small population that live in a large, maze-like canyon complex. You could have the Feywild be destroyed, and all fey races like eladrin are refuge.

All those examples you listed are only background lore, fluff, which is highly mutable, and varies from setting to setting.

However, every race that WotC publishes and wants money for must be mechanically balanced with each other they already published or will publish in the future.
Every amateur and/or enthusiast can produce something unbalanced for homebrew-play and be happy with it. And nobody should ever pay for something badly done.
WotC are professionals, in the sense of that they're doing this for a profession, and are beholden by the quality of their products that they sell to people. And they don't always succeed with creating quality-works. Although they do at least produce patch-work errata en masse, so yeah...

 

[Istar]

Make sure all the MM NPC Races are done properly as PC's and that should keep the majority of people, and complainers about MM Races, happy.