For me, it's nothing at all to do with the content. It's all to do with the writing style.
Play a dragonborn if:
- You want to be scaly.
This is a pretty gross exggeration, and either speaks to a profound level of ignorance which someone with your prominence on this forum simply shouldn't have, or a very obnoxious level of passive-aggressive edition hating.
To quote from right under the Dragonborn statblock:
"Born to fight, dragonborn are a race of wandering mercenaries, soldiers and adventurers."
Right there we've got a lot more than just "be scaly." But it doesn't stop there, and that was only the FIRST LINE.
"Long ago, their empire contended for worldwide domnision..."
In the first half of the SECOND line, we give players a great reason to play dragonborn: worldwide conquest. But maybe we need more.
"...but now only a few rootless clans of these honorable warriors remain to pass on their legends of acnient glory."
Here's some GREAT matieral. You are one of a few, perhaps the last of your kind, you can seek to rekindle your empire, make one last great mark for the Dragonborn people, or all sorts of things.
Alright alright, there is that list that says things like:
"look like a dragon"
"be a proud heir of an ancient, fallen empire"
"breath acid, fold, fire, lightning, or poison"
"to be a member of a race that favors the warlord, fighter or paladin classes"
Alright, you get the first one.
Second one? Nope back to the good material.
Third? Eh, 50/50 that appeals to some people.
Fourth? Could apply to a lot of races, but certainly gives you an idea for your character beyond "scaly".
The book then spends a FULL page going into greater detail, and there's also a short handbook of some 20 pages talking about the race.
So I'm sorry Morrus, but you either didn't bother to read the 4e PHB, or are passivly trying to start up an edition war. Because the book does not simply say "play dragonborn if you want to be scaly." In fact, only a tiny fragment of the written material on the Dragonborn in the PHB even references their draconic ancestry.