They were never all evil. There are many examples of Drow that are not, and it’s explained in the War of the Spider Queen that Menzoberranzan is odd in its depravity. Lolth isn’t the only Drow god. In fact, Drow society is diverse, with individuals ranging from noble and honorable to deceitful and ruthless. The War of the Spider Queen series delves into the complexity of Drow culture, showcasing characters who defy the stereotypical evil alignment. It becomes evident that Menzoberranzan’s extreme cruelty is an exception rather than the rule, challenging the notion that all Drow are uniformly malevolent.
Which of course is why individuals should never be held hostage to the stereotypes of their race which is what you are using lore as.
I don’t think opening classes to all races has any impact on the subject. Look at Blood Knights, they became just like any other Paladin the moment BC ended.
Writers simply have to want to create said uniqueness. If all Druids are supposed to be the same, then it makes sense. If they’re supposed to be unique and different, that also makes sense.
They’re actually leaving the old options for people who want them. I’m using the old moonkin model on my zandalari troll druid but not on my night elf, worgen, tauren, or highmountain tauren druids. My preferred cat form (the feathermane/moonspirit form from Legion) was already available to all druid races.
I don’t really care about what other people think about the world-building and fantasy and homogenization or whatever; I play druid a lot and I’m going to have like twice as many druids whenever all races can play them so this is all good for me
I just looked into this a bit and this MMO actually does sound interesting. If they can deliver on all of their promises, which I don’t think they can, I think it will be a success.
It can be argued that opening every class to every race kinda killed the individualism of the various fantasy races.
It really did reinforce the “human in a funny suit” approach to demi-humans races in the game. A lot of the cultural differences were lost, though to be fair, some people ignored those anyways ( lots of players never see a character as more than a list of numbers and modifiers on a piece of paper).