My point was not so much that they shouldn't exist because they're not fun characters, but more that since they share almost everything with orcs, but orcs have much more lore and depth, I believe WotC should have made the full-blood orcs the main playable ancestry instead of only going halfway with the half-orc. Sorry for the confusion
@@SonicSanctuary Cool. Change that. Make half-orcs a subrace of playable orcs that, rather than being half orc, half human. Are just a more intelligent, and thus more capable of moral and ethical thought.
On the hybrid part towards the end. There is thing called hybrid vigour, or heterosis, which is used quite a lot in animal breeding. A Hybrid between those chicken races awill have superiour qualiteis in terms of muscle growth for examaple than either parent, however this hybrid vigour is not inheritable and their own offspring are more prone towards having the worst qualities of both lineages. This leads to there being an entire class of "animal products", ie live animals used in industrial farming, ie big aggro, that are classed as "#terminal Hybrids", ie these are for raising and slaugthering and are not meant to ever reproduce. This seems like a perfect explanation for the Half-Orc superiority, where their superior qualities respective to both their ancestries is warranted while also explaining that their own children will get stunted, or they will lose their hybrid status. For instance their children (most likely by orc ancestry due to where they live, access to females, and status if we consider a male half orc), is going ot be either weaker than the father, or just assimilate into being an orc. Thus you never get a superior bloodline over time, but only one-offs who are forced to integrate back into the general population pool by genetic destiny.
Oh heterosis... You just took me back on a nostalgia trip back to my colege years :) But yes, that's a very good point, and it would produce a more interesting creature to explore through roleplay, without doubt
I love watching your videos even if I’m not playing that character. You have great charisma and intelligence. I really like the way you think and view things, please continue making great content.
Not to knock on your idea, but I hope to give you additional plot hooks for your character. Technically this combination of Orc and Drow mixed is impossible. Not because there's a physical issue, but in the early days of the lore. Gruumish and Korelon the Orc and Elf gods respectively, they fought, it was bloody messy and a disaster. They fought over where their races would first settle on the material world. Short answer is, orcs got nothing, and so Gruumish told his orcs they can have all the land, take what they want, build homes wherever, and breed with whomever. However, Gruumish made it impossible for orcs to breed with elves, they are mortal enemies. So for your character I think you could have a crazy explanation for why this abomination even exists. Gl buddy!
There was a half Orc half Elf race from a previous edition (don't remember what it was called). A friend shared it with me a few years ago. Reading on it had me fascinated. I've been tempted to create one as a protector type who seeks to redeem himself despite having no part in his own creation. But I haven't done it yet
First time DnD player here. I’m playing a half-orc cleric that was orphaned and then raised by the Church of Ilmater. So now, he has an internal turmoil between following the ways of Ilmater (helping the oppressed) or Gruumsh.
Saying that half-orcs shouldn't exist because they suggest that full orcs are inferior to humans isn't a strong argument. INT isn't the only stat, and orcs score higher in other areas. Humans are meant to be the vanilla, average stat spread race, with their only real advantage gameplay-wise being versatility.
My main argument is that half-orc shouldn't exist because canonically there is little to no distinction between half-orcs and orcs, and in almost all situations where significant differences exist, orcs are more interesting. I agree orcs score higher than humans in many areas (I'd even argue that they score higher in average)
Every race is justified depending on the world building of a given DM. Without detailed world building however, you have a fantasy stereotype with a stat block so you can have an easy one shot adventure. DnD has lways been a game with minimalistic lore but a vast toolbox of rulesmechanics to give the maximum amount f customization options. That is why the simplistic stuff in the corebooks needs DM support to have a reason for longer lasting groups.
Have this idea of a former outlander/ conqueror Barbarian half orc whos lived his life pillaging and taking everything and every woman he wants. Essentially a gregor Clegane type of brutality and lack of remorse. Giving into his bloodlust fully. Only to be mortally wounded and memory wiped. (still formulating a reason why/how) Then to wake up on a monestary and a fresh look on life. Fairly simple concept that i could mess around with in terms of a redemption type of arc as well as the character having that inner turmoil and trauma from his former life. Also having a literal god try n pull him back to hid old self would be a story itself. Ahh the possibilities
It makes perfect sense. A memory wipe would overwrite any behavioural biases and social paradigms indoctrinated by average orcish culture. It really seems an amazing concept. Actually, I might steal your idea for an npc :p
I solved the problem of half-orcs as a race in my setting by replacing them with 'bannermen', an ethnic group as much as a political one that was created by the intermixing of orc tribal refugees and the refugees of human kingdoms that allied for convenience fleeing the rise of an empire headed by powerful liches in the distant past. The survivors interbred over centuries until no distinguishing line could be drawn between the former ethnic groups.
Sounds awesome, and in a way I think it justifies a bit more the existence of a half-orc ancestry since they become more distinguishable from regular orcs. Also, that setting sounds amazing to play in :D
@@TheFirstArcadianDnD I appreciate it :). Its a setting I've been passively working on for a few years but I dont know if I want to write down with 5e rules in mind or make my own system considering theres a lot of different mechanics I want to do with it that arent in 5e, like faction approval, and unique perks based on faction alignment. For instance, theres an order of warriors called 'mournguard' which defend their home city of sleeping spire and hunt down evil necromancers and the restless dead. Their souls are owned by a more benevolent lich and their biggest faction perk is they cant die. When they fall in battle, the liches magic raises them back up and its treated as a long rest. Only other liches can permakill them. So if players join the mournguard, it's a massive commitment but it completely changes the way they'll play the game, allowing for more difficult encounters since death isnt a threat, only losing time in very important time sensitive quests. A race restriction I did put in my setting was Elves and gnomes though, since I wanted elves and gnomes to be more like how they're presented in gaelic mythology, so they kinda take similar positions to devil's, leaning in from the faewild to make faustian bargains or launching raids for slaves, plunder, and souls. Half elves are viewed with extreme suspicion because of this and are generally pretty rare. I called the setting Wostroya, but focused more specifically on 1 region, wostroya itself, which is a mountainous region with a climate similar to the alps and po valley, but the size of the Tibetan plateau, and focused on just really fleshing out everything there so my players will have plenty to do
So what if a Half-Orc goes searching for his identity as a Half-Orc? What do you say to that? "Just be an Orc"? I like to play the Half-Orc Monk. So what's the alternative? I don't want to play a dumb monk. I'd like my monk to have some intelligence. Half-Orcs are my favorite race. As you can tell. I'm biracial irl. And telling me biracial people of any kind shouldn't exist is lacking in taste in my not so humble opinion.
Sorry if I wasn't clear enough, but what I meant was actually the opposite. In my opinion, half-orcs fail as a half-species concept precisely because they aren't more than the sum of both its heritages. An example of a good half-species concept is the half-elf, since they're not really elves, but neither are they humans. They draw from both heritages but at the same time provide a new, different, hybrid concept that brings a completely different roleplaying experience, capitalizing on their close proximity with both different cultures. Half-orcs, on the other hand, fail to be as distinct as a species, and I find that people often play them as humans or orcs, but rarely as their own thing. And note as well that this isn't the half-orc's fault, as an ancestry concept, but rather on WotC for not providing additional lore to help flesh them out better. In your own campaign, this could be easily corrected by homebrewing, but I make these videos using Forgotten Realms lore as a base, so that's all I can really comment on. I also need to point out I never said biracial people of any kind shouldn't exist, and I never will. The purpose of this video was to discuss a fictional fantasy ancestry. Not only it does not reflect anything related to real life matters, but also pertains a hybrid between two different species, not a child of two humans of different ethnicities. I kindly ask that you don't draw those inferences from this video. Not only they are very different from the point I wanted to make, but they don't reflect my personal opinions either.
I once had a DM that had a rule against anyone being a half orc because he firmly believed that people would either be racist and afraid or racist and aggressive against you everywhere you go and he didnt want to RP that. I argued he could just make people not racist and he said it wouldn't feel like a real world and i didn't push cause i usually pick halfling anyway.
Not everyone is a reality bending, one man army. Good orcs are the exception to the rule. Would you risk your family's safety because the the concept of a good orc is technically possible even though no one you have ever met had even heard of one?
Forgotten Realms is not the only D&D setting, so to argue only from the Forgotten Realms lore is invalidating your argument from the beginning, since at best you make just an argument for that one single setting. And well, the upcoming core rules next year seem to have just the full blooded orcs in the PHB. But I agree with you, the orcs of mixed heritage could need some more love, and well I agree with WotC, that they should not be called hal-orcs, since that naming convention is too humancentric. And when they are at it they could remove quite some of the orientalism fromthe core orcs as well.
Making an argument using FR as a base is not invalidating the argument. FR is not only the most proeminent D&D setting but it is the official and default setting for 5e. We do have books on other settings, but they are not as comprehensive and there is no point making an argument for each setting, since some settings don't even have orcs officially, like Theros. If you play most of the adventure modules, they will be taking place in FR, so unless you have a heavily homebrewed FR, his points are pretty solid from a default setting and lore point of view.
Also, you made me remember one of my favorite player characters of all time, a half-orc paladin named Garth. That player wrote me a full 12-page short story for his background, divided in two chapters. The first was called 'Garth the half-orc' and the second was called 'Garth the half-man'. It was amazing!
I played a pretty incredible Life Cleric Half Orc Grin. He had suffered at the hands of orcs, so he swore he would ease the suffering of others. He worshipped Illmater and used life transference to take damage and heal his allies up. And gotta remember the warding bond to soak up half the damage someone takes.
When you was talking about half Orcs I thought you ment Orogs. They are way smarter and and more calculating. If someone tells me they are half Orc and half human I say they are just Orc. Because Orc genes are way to strong the most that would happen is you look a lot more human then some other Orcs but that would be about it. Doesn't change anything else.
I got into DnD during 3rd edition and you could tell the game designers didn't want the HalfOrc to even be an option by how they wrote them. A boost to strength for the price of two ability scores that completely bottleneck your options. Dark vision. Then.... Literally nothing to roleplay off, no cultural or bloodline quirks, no skill bonuses. The half orc entry is a paragraph next to the full page for stock Dwarves (a race that's even better at being the half-orcs' favored class Barbarian. ) The race has really had an uphill march to be considered among the other PC options.
I think the reality of being a half-orc (which I think is lazy 'race' padding from D&D) is way too often ignored by softer/kinder/gentler role-players of today.
I’m currently working on my first half orc, and I’d agree. I’m working on figuring out a way to incorporate Gruumsh into his traits as well as what I’d like the character to be, and it’s honestly really fun and interesting trying to find a balance
This is quite possibly the worse statement read so far no offense. “child born from not loving couples” Well welcome to real life human reality, especially with African Americans in the USA. Humans rape and babies are born, so if it’s real why can’t it be in something of imagination…?
The problem with DnD is little tin-gods constant attempts to cripple good out of the box builds. Very few DMs are not obsessed with forcing everyone to play cookie-cutter builds. All for the sake of complete and utter control.
I'm with you on the idea of replacing half-orc ancestry with orc ancestry. I'd even go as far as to say there's no need for a half-elf ancestry. And it seems like Wizards of the Coast agree with me. However, there should be a "mixed ancestry system", where different racial features would be marked as primary/secondary or assigned a point-score, so that a player can mix and match the features for their own ancestry. What if I want to play a half-dragonborn half-elf character? Do they get the breath weapon? Do they finish long rests in 4 hours? Is there a damage resistance? Do I get any cantrips from my elven side? DnD 5e doesn't answer any of those questions, only giving a half-elf half-human and half-orc half-human options. If I want to play an elf-orc and take half-elf to represent it, none of the features seem orcish at all. Skill versatility looks more like a human feature to me. And why have these half-races for elves and orcs but not dwarves, or gnomes?
I think that the new D&D interation was attempting to provide a similar framework where people would be able to mix all ancestries in half-half hybrids. I would point one thing in defense of the half-elves, though. Since they go through the whole "part of both worlds but belonging to none" thing, they're actually very interesting to explore psychologically. If they live among humans, they're doomed to see their childhood friends and most people they know (and their children, possibly) age and die before them, but if they live among elves, it seems time is stopped for everyone aside from them, and stays the same while they wither away. In that sense, since they're distinct from elves and humans, it might be worthwhile keeping them as a main playable ancestry.
Literally nothing you said justifies why they shouldn't exist. Honestly it sounds like a fun character.
My point was not so much that they shouldn't exist because they're not fun characters, but more that since they share almost everything with orcs, but orcs have much more lore and depth, I believe WotC should have made the full-blood orcs the main playable ancestry instead of only going halfway with the half-orc. Sorry for the confusion
@@TheFirstArcadianDnDthe problem with playing full blooded orcs is that they are kinda irredeemable in the forgotten realms setting.
@@SonicSanctuarynot grey orcs.
@@SonicSanctuary Cool. Change that. Make half-orcs a subrace of playable orcs that, rather than being half orc, half human. Are just a more intelligent, and thus more capable of moral and ethical thought.
@@justinhigginbottom8668 i'd totally use this homebrew. I was just speaking "rules as written" kind of thing.
On the hybrid part towards the end. There is thing called hybrid vigour, or heterosis, which is used quite a lot in animal breeding. A Hybrid between those chicken races awill have superiour qualiteis in terms of muscle growth for examaple than either parent, however this hybrid vigour is not inheritable and their own offspring are more prone towards having the worst qualities of both lineages. This leads to there being an entire class of "animal products", ie live animals used in industrial farming, ie big aggro, that are classed as "#terminal Hybrids", ie these are for raising and slaugthering and are not meant to ever reproduce.
This seems like a perfect explanation for the Half-Orc superiority, where their superior qualities respective to both their ancestries is warranted while also explaining that their own children will get stunted, or they will lose their hybrid status. For instance their children (most likely by orc ancestry due to where they live, access to females, and status if we consider a male half orc), is going ot be either weaker than the father, or just assimilate into being an orc. Thus you never get a superior bloodline over time, but only one-offs who are forced to integrate back into the general population pool by genetic destiny.
Oh heterosis... You just took me back on a nostalgia trip back to my colege years :) But yes, that's a very good point, and it would produce a more interesting creature to explore through roleplay, without doubt
I love watching your videos even if I’m not playing that character. You have great charisma and intelligence. I really like the way you think and view things, please continue making great content.
Thank you, that just made my day :)
Well now I have a new idea for a character that is a half orc with the other half being drow.
Not to knock on your idea, but I hope to give you additional plot hooks for your character.
Technically this combination of Orc and Drow mixed is impossible. Not because there's a physical issue, but in the early days of the lore. Gruumish and Korelon the Orc and Elf gods respectively, they fought, it was bloody messy and a disaster.
They fought over where their races would first settle on the material world. Short answer is, orcs got nothing, and so Gruumish told his orcs they can have all the land, take what they want, build homes wherever, and breed with whomever. However, Gruumish made it impossible for orcs to breed with elves, they are mortal enemies.
So for your character I think you could have a crazy explanation for why this abomination even exists. Gl buddy!
@@LoreFoundry maybe Lolth’s rebellion breaks the enmity between Gruumish and her children? Hell, maybe they could plot Correlon’s downfall together
There was a half Orc half Elf race from a previous edition (don't remember what it was called). A friend shared it with me a few years ago. Reading on it had me fascinated. I've been tempted to create one as a protector type who seeks to redeem himself despite having no part in his own creation. But I haven't done it yet
The concept sound amazing, the "forbidden child" of two opposing civilizations whose very own god are mortal enemies
I like your assessment about half orcs. I play a lot of orcs ever since Warcraft II, basically orcs are viltrumites
Man... I'm not even sure I agree but that's one hell of a fantasic concept! I might need to apply that to my homebrew world XD
First time DnD player here. I’m playing a half-orc cleric that was orphaned and then raised by the Church of Ilmater. So now, he has an internal turmoil between following the ways of Ilmater (helping the oppressed) or Gruumsh.
Saying that half-orcs shouldn't exist because they suggest that full orcs are inferior to humans isn't a strong argument. INT isn't the only stat, and orcs score higher in other areas. Humans are meant to be the vanilla, average stat spread race, with their only real advantage gameplay-wise being versatility.
My main argument is that half-orc shouldn't exist because canonically there is little to no distinction between half-orcs and orcs, and in almost all situations where significant differences exist, orcs are more interesting. I agree orcs score higher than humans in many areas (I'd even argue that they score higher in average)
Every race is justified depending on the world building of a given DM.
Without detailed world building however, you have a fantasy stereotype with a stat block so you can have an easy one shot adventure.
DnD has lways been a game with minimalistic lore but a vast toolbox of rulesmechanics to give the maximum amount f customization options.
That is why the simplistic stuff in the corebooks needs DM support to have a reason for longer lasting groups.
Thank you for this video, i love orcs and i agree with everything you said about the ancestry. i'm bingeing your vids rn.
Cheers from Brazil!
Obrigado e um grande abraço de Portugal ehehe :D
At last someone who understands what an Orc and a Half-orc are! Shame WotC no longer do.
Currently working on my first half orc. Definitely gave me some inspiration 🤙🏼
Have this idea of a former outlander/ conqueror Barbarian half orc whos lived his life pillaging and taking everything and every woman he wants. Essentially a gregor Clegane type of brutality and lack of remorse. Giving into his bloodlust fully.
Only to be mortally wounded and memory wiped. (still formulating a reason why/how)
Then to wake up on a monestary and a fresh look on life. Fairly simple concept that i could mess around with in terms of a redemption type of arc as well as the character having that inner turmoil and trauma from his former life. Also having a literal god try n pull him back to hid old self would be a story itself. Ahh the possibilities
It makes perfect sense. A memory wipe would overwrite any behavioural biases and social paradigms indoctrinated by average orcish culture. It really seems an amazing concept. Actually, I might steal your idea for an npc :p
I solved the problem of half-orcs as a race in my setting by replacing them with 'bannermen', an ethnic group as much as a political one that was created by the intermixing of orc tribal refugees and the refugees of human kingdoms that allied for convenience fleeing the rise of an empire headed by powerful liches in the distant past. The survivors interbred over centuries until no distinguishing line could be drawn between the former ethnic groups.
Sounds awesome, and in a way I think it justifies a bit more the existence of a half-orc ancestry since they become more distinguishable from regular orcs. Also, that setting sounds amazing to play in :D
@@TheFirstArcadianDnD I appreciate it :). Its a setting I've been passively working on for a few years but I dont know if I want to write down with 5e rules in mind or make my own system considering theres a lot of different mechanics I want to do with it that arent in 5e, like faction approval, and unique perks based on faction alignment. For instance, theres an order of warriors called 'mournguard' which defend their home city of sleeping spire and hunt down evil necromancers and the restless dead. Their souls are owned by a more benevolent lich and their biggest faction perk is they cant die. When they fall in battle, the liches magic raises them back up and its treated as a long rest. Only other liches can permakill them. So if players join the mournguard, it's a massive commitment but it completely changes the way they'll play the game, allowing for more difficult encounters since death isnt a threat, only losing time in very important time sensitive quests.
A race restriction I did put in my setting was Elves and gnomes though, since I wanted elves and gnomes to be more like how they're presented in gaelic mythology, so they kinda take similar positions to devil's, leaning in from the faewild to make faustian bargains or launching raids for slaves, plunder, and souls. Half elves are viewed with extreme suspicion because of this and are generally pretty rare.
I called the setting Wostroya, but focused more specifically on 1 region, wostroya itself, which is a mountainous region with a climate similar to the alps and po valley, but the size of the Tibetan plateau, and focused on just really fleshing out everything there so my players will have plenty to do
So what if a Half-Orc goes searching for his identity as a Half-Orc? What do you say to that?
"Just be an Orc"?
I like to play the Half-Orc Monk. So what's the alternative?
I don't want to play a dumb monk. I'd like my monk to have some intelligence.
Half-Orcs are my favorite race. As you can tell.
I'm biracial irl. And telling me biracial people of any kind shouldn't exist is lacking in taste in my not so humble opinion.
Sorry if I wasn't clear enough, but what I meant was actually the opposite. In my opinion, half-orcs fail as a half-species concept precisely because they aren't more than the sum of both its heritages. An example of a good half-species concept is the half-elf, since they're not really elves, but neither are they humans. They draw from both heritages but at the same time provide a new, different, hybrid concept that brings a completely different roleplaying experience, capitalizing on their close proximity with both different cultures. Half-orcs, on the other hand, fail to be as distinct as a species, and I find that people often play them as humans or orcs, but rarely as their own thing. And note as well that this isn't the half-orc's fault, as an ancestry concept, but rather on WotC for not providing additional lore to help flesh them out better. In your own campaign, this could be easily corrected by homebrewing, but I make these videos using Forgotten Realms lore as a base, so that's all I can really comment on.
I also need to point out I never said biracial people of any kind shouldn't exist, and I never will. The purpose of this video was to discuss a fictional fantasy ancestry. Not only it does not reflect anything related to real life matters, but also pertains a hybrid between two different species, not a child of two humans of different ethnicities. I kindly ask that you don't draw those inferences from this video. Not only they are very different from the point I wanted to make, but they don't reflect my personal opinions either.
Decided to make a half orc monk in baldurs gate
I once had a DM that had a rule against anyone being a half orc because he firmly believed that people would either be racist and afraid or racist and aggressive against you everywhere you go and he didnt want to RP that. I argued he could just make people not racist and he said it wouldn't feel like a real world and i didn't push cause i usually pick halfling anyway.
Whats a Hoffork?
It's a kind of structure system for multi-level constructions, like stage roofs, exhibition roofs, etc. Google it.
@@TheFirstArcadianDnDlol! I love it! 😂
Not everyone is a reality bending, one man army. Good orcs are the exception to the rule.
Would you risk your family's safety because the the concept of a good orc is technically possible even though no one you have ever met had even heard of one?
Half orc 4 life crew!
Yeah, I always play orc and never half.
Forgotten Realms is not the only D&D setting, so to argue only from the Forgotten Realms lore is invalidating your argument from the beginning, since at best you make just an argument for that one single setting. And well, the upcoming core rules next year seem to have just the full blooded orcs in the PHB. But I agree with you, the orcs of mixed heritage could need some more love, and well I agree with WotC, that they should not be called hal-orcs, since that naming convention is too humancentric. And when they are at it they could remove quite some of the orientalism fromthe core orcs as well.
Making an argument using FR as a base is not invalidating the argument. FR is not only the most proeminent D&D setting but it is the official and default setting for 5e. We do have books on other settings, but they are not as comprehensive and there is no point making an argument for each setting, since some settings don't even have orcs officially, like Theros. If you play most of the adventure modules, they will be taking place in FR, so unless you have a heavily homebrewed FR, his points are pretty solid from a default setting and lore point of view.
In these videos, I'm sticking to FR lore only. I'd love to cover every major setting in existence, but that would take waaaay too much time :p
Also, you made me remember one of my favorite player characters of all time, a half-orc paladin named Garth. That player wrote me a full 12-page short story for his background, divided in two chapters. The first was called 'Garth the half-orc' and the second was called 'Garth the half-man'. It was amazing!
I played a pretty incredible Life Cleric Half Orc Grin. He had suffered at the hands of orcs, so he swore he would ease the suffering of others. He worshipped Illmater and used life transference to take damage and heal his allies up. And gotta remember the warding bond to soak up half the damage someone takes.
When you was talking about half Orcs I thought you ment Orogs.
They are way smarter and and more calculating.
If someone tells me they are half Orc and half human I say they are just Orc.
Because Orc genes are way to strong the most that would happen is you look a lot more human then some other Orcs but that would be about it. Doesn't change anything else.
I got into DnD during 3rd edition and you could tell the game designers didn't want the HalfOrc to even be an option by how they wrote them. A boost to strength for the price of two ability scores that completely bottleneck your options. Dark vision. Then....
Literally nothing to roleplay off, no cultural or bloodline quirks, no skill bonuses. The half orc entry is a paragraph next to the full page for stock Dwarves (a race that's even better at being the half-orcs' favored class Barbarian. )
The race has really had an uphill march to be considered among the other PC options.
Traditionally, Orcs had +4 strength while Half Orc has ever had +2?
I think the reality of being a half-orc (which I think is lazy 'race' padding from D&D) is way too often ignored by softer/kinder/gentler role-players of today.
Which is sad, even people who play dwarves are soft and kind to everyone. Just remember Bruenor from Drizzt books, and how great his character is.
I’m currently working on my first half orc, and I’d agree. I’m working on figuring out a way to incorporate Gruumsh into his traits as well as what I’d like the character to be, and it’s honestly really fun and interesting trying to find a balance
dont they remove half orks because you know they are probably rarly born of a loving coupel
and you know what i mean by that
This is quite possibly the worse statement read so far no offense.
“child born from not loving couples” Well welcome to real life human reality, especially with African Americans in the USA. Humans rape and babies are born, so if it’s real why can’t it be in something of imagination…?
This video should have been labeled “lazy half-orc(ish) lore and why I don’t like em”
Dude... I said multiple times I love them...
Saying that Half-Orcs shouldn't exist is hatespeech towards Half-Orcs.
Why isn't it lovespeech towards orcs?
The problem with DnD is little tin-gods constant attempts to cripple good out of the box builds. Very few DMs are not obsessed with forcing everyone to play cookie-cutter builds. All for the sake of complete and utter control.
I'm with you on the idea of replacing half-orc ancestry with orc ancestry. I'd even go as far as to say there's no need for a half-elf ancestry. And it seems like Wizards of the Coast agree with me. However, there should be a "mixed ancestry system", where different racial features would be marked as primary/secondary or assigned a point-score, so that a player can mix and match the features for their own ancestry.
What if I want to play a half-dragonborn half-elf character? Do they get the breath weapon? Do they finish long rests in 4 hours? Is there a damage resistance? Do I get any cantrips from my elven side? DnD 5e doesn't answer any of those questions, only giving a half-elf half-human and half-orc half-human options. If I want to play an elf-orc and take half-elf to represent it, none of the features seem orcish at all. Skill versatility looks more like a human feature to me.
And why have these half-races for elves and orcs but not dwarves, or gnomes?
I think that the new D&D interation was attempting to provide a similar framework where people would be able to mix all ancestries in half-half hybrids. I would point one thing in defense of the half-elves, though. Since they go through the whole "part of both worlds but belonging to none" thing, they're actually very interesting to explore psychologically. If they live among humans, they're doomed to see their childhood friends and most people they know (and their children, possibly) age and die before them, but if they live among elves, it seems time is stopped for everyone aside from them, and stays the same while they wither away. In that sense, since they're distinct from elves and humans, it might be worthwhile keeping them as a main playable ancestry.