Races
Looking at the new choices for the first races, I will not speculate as to why they would get rid of the iconic gnome and the half-orc (which is not as iconic). They are replaced by the Dragonborn, Tieflings, and Eladrin. These are interesting races, but to put them on a tier above the gnome is odd. Anyone could create a setting where on of these races is prominent. To make them basic races in the first book for the new edition steps far away from traditional D&D.
Here I feel the designers have in fact made the game worse by using these races. The races themselves are not to blame. They are well designed. They have some history with the game. They have unique features. Personally, I do very much like the Eladrin and have used them in the past. The problem is that to make them the norm, to include them as 'starter' races devalues the human and other more normal races. If one starts out playing a Dragonborn, the interest in then playing a more mundane race will be, generally speaking, diminished.