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Some players in my playtest group feel that the removal of certain Racial Features that existed in PF1E, such as the Halfling’s bonuses to Stealth, mean that we no longer have the problem where “Humans are the masters of the world, but no Human will never be as good as as a Halfling at sneaking around, so why bother being anything but a Halfling if you’re going to play a Rogue.” One of the key issues in PF1E is that certain races are just inherently better than Humans at doing certain Class-based tasks. Despite the fact that Humans are supposed to be the most adaptable, most skilled, and most populous, these inherent racial bonuses lead to explosions of Halfling Rogues, Elf Wizards, Half-Orc Fighters, and so on. Combined with the inherent racial attribute bonuses, there’s almost literally no reason to play a Human (other than roleplaying potential) in 1E, or, indeed, most D20 games. I enjoy this benefit of the system, preferring abilities that open up new options or aspects of the game such as the Dwarf's Boulder Roll or the Gnome's Animal Accomplice.
However, to me, growing into an ancestry over time doesn't feel right. This contributes to a feeling that level one characters are just more bland now than they were in PF1E and earlier levels are not as enjoyable to play. I much preferred PF1E's system of alternative racial traits from the APG / ARG. I don't believe all members of a particular ancestry are alike, and there should be options as a result, but those options should be granted from character creation.
The questions and feedback above came out as a result of running The Lost Star adventure.
GM Playtest Post: http://paizo.com/threads/rzs428mg?The-Lost-Star-Playtest-Notes-by-MrCoffeeC up
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You'll be shocked, but I actually welcomed the ancestry change for the opposite reason - because, no matter how better and specialised a Race would be, a Human would always be a contending option (and pretty often that extra feat would just win out).
Seeing humans everywhere (even when I asked for some racial/location restriction, such as "the party is a group of elves called upon by the Queen" "Oh cool, but can I play a human that's been living with the Elves?") made me hella annoyed at them at times, and the new version of Human is adaptable and varied without going head and shoulder above others, so I'm glad it's there.
Even the extra class feat isn't as alluring as some suggested, for a lot of classes. And there's a lot of feats which are not as great (except the mental defense one, that is awesome and I love it).
You'll be shocked, but I actually welcomed the ancestry change for the opposite reason ...
Thanks for weighing in. I can see your point. One of my players did not like the general +4 to Stealth for Halflings in PF1E which made them ideal rogues that other races couldn't contend with.
I like the change in PF2E where Halflings don't have a blanket bonus to Stealth, but have an option of hiding behind larger folk in order to Hide and Sneak. It gives provides a description of how the ancestry uses its natural abilities to be better in a way that others can not, making it distinct, but not completely overshadowing, the others.
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I think I'll probably be happy with Ancestries as is if they just get a second ancestry feat at level 1. I liked alternate racial traits too, but I'm a big old nerd for optimization and find going through those fun. For many other players, it is overwhelming. Spreading the feats out helps with that, combined with making the individual feats stronger than racial traits were in PF1.