4e - *didnt play this system*
5e - trolls B, Orcs C, Elves and Dwarves D
4E was the metahumans edition, at least from an optimization standpoint. The problem was that the Build Point cost of certain metas was less than what they netted you in attributes. Mathematically, you should only do one of two things:
1) choose an elf if you needed Charisma (e.g. for a face or a shaman); otherwise,
2) play an ork, because you got 50 BP of attributes for 20 BP of chargen points, plus low-light vision for free on top of that.
So from that standpoint 5E was an improvement.
Small quibble, but in 5E dwarves require Priority C.
The 5E developers were fairly open about how hard it was to balance the metatypes with the priority system, especially for trolls. If I recall, one of their primary goals was to avoid the "skinny dwarf/ork/troll" problem (common in 4E) where, for a small priority price, you could have a metatype with all the Body and Strength you would ever need, so there was no incentive to add any extra Attribute points into them. If dwarves and orks essentially get 5 free attribute points, and trolls get 8, then that needs to be balanced against the fact that +1 Priority point in Attributes only gets you 2-4 extra Attribute points. That's why dwarves and orks start at C and trolls start at B.
While that works mathematically, it ignores the reality that not all Attributes are created equal. Body and Strength are linked to few skills in 5E. Body is worse that Reaction/Intuition at avoiding damage, and is largely overwhelmed by basic armor anyway. Strength is important for melee combatants and little else.
There are ways around the above problems, like making specific attributes easier to advance for some metas than others, but that adds another layer of rules on top of an already crunchy system that's famously intimidating for new players. There's a lot to be said for Anarchy's chargen system in terms of approachability, where anyone - regardless of their familiarity with RPGs - can sit down and have a character up and running within 15 minutes. From what I gather, 6E will be a step in that direction, to try bypass the worst of the analysis paralysis that many people suffer in 5E's chargen.
I'll avoid passing judgement until I see the system myself, but of all the things I've heard so far it's not particularly high on my list of concerns.
