Wow, not a lot of warforged love. That's a surprise. I have to admit, I've seen quite a few warforged characters since they got released. Far more than, say, gnomes (66%? I'm smelling something here).
I'm firmly on the side of the aisle that dislikes warforged. I just don't like the entire idea behind them. They were worse in 3E because they required special spells that were pretty much created to support them (Repair Wounds, etc.). That 4E got rid of that and made them "living constructs" is somewhat better, but I still dislike the flavor of the race. I had to reflavor them to be more palatable to me for my campaign world, but, unless I have a player that really wants to play them, I won't ever bring them up.
I view warforged in the same vein as goblins, orcs, gnolls, and the rest of the monster races. They should be there for the people who want to play them, but they should never be considered "core" to the game. I understand that, before 4E, people thought the same about tieflings and dragonborn. And, yes, I understand that it's kind of a double standard, and, yes, I am comfortable with that.
Warforged were a major reason why I didn't play DDO. They're a major reason why I've never been interested in playing an Eberron campaign.
Gnomes, however, are the master race. And any campaign without at least one gnome as a PC or major NPC is a wasted opportunity for awesome.
but I believe the Rakasta made their first appearance in the Isle of Dread in the D&D Expert set (blue box), some time before Fiend Folio brought in the tabaxi. Though exact years of release are not held in my brain-catalogue.
