Were you expecting it to encompass everything that came before, such as OA and Savage Species, or just make a world where the core was applied? There's no question that Eberron isn't either of those, I think. I would argue it's "D&D, making sense and working smoothly in one world", but I think that full sentence is unobtainable, myself. D&D, on it's face, is full of logical fallacies that would require convulted answers to explain away, IMHO.
I was sort of expecting there to be built-in reasons or hooks for the possibility of everything (officially) D&D. If a Player wanted to play a samurai, I expected Eberron to accomodate him -- "There's an 'oriental' culture over there, and it is quite possible for those people to be found in this land." If a Player wanted to play a minotaur, I expected Eberron to accomodate him - "There's a 'monstrous' nation over there, and it is quite possible for those creatures to be found in this land." If a Player wanted to play a core elf wizard, I expected Eberron to accomodate him - "The elves live all throughout this world, just like it says in the PHB."
If a DM didn't want/have OA, then the oriental culture "over there" could be either ignored or assumed to be full of core fighters and wizards with a different look. If a DM didn't want/have SS, then the monstrous nation "over there" could be ignored, or used as a place for the core PCs to go adventure. And for the elf wizard character, the Player should be able to play right out of the PHB, without having to read about the strange/new race in Eberron that just uses the elf racial mechanics.
It seems to me, from reading all the threads about the setting, Eberron didn't make everything D&D fit in it. It took everything D&D and twisted it into something completely new. Eberron elves are not "D&D" elves. Eberron halflings are not "D&D" halflings. They seem to be new races, just using the elf and halfling mechanics. I mean, Darksun halflings are "D&D" halflings mechanically, but they are completely different creatures in flavor. Same with what I'm seeing of Eberron.
As for no more sub-races of elves in Eberron -- it seems that the elves of Eberron *are* a subrace in flavor, but just stick to the core mechanics. Would a race described as chaotic sea-going folk be "dwarves" just because they use the D&D dwarf race mechanics? Or would they be something else in feel, even if the campaign setting called them "dwarves"?
For the record, I am not complaining about the existance of Eberron. I'm not even really complaining. I'm just saying it isn't what I expected. Eberron seems to be just another "different" setting for the D&D game -- but not a "D&D" setting.
Eh. Although I was disappointed, I'll say up front: its not like I'm offended or anything. Its just not my cup of tea. Neither was Darksun or Ravenloft.
Quasqueton