Oh wow. Eladrin as a 'tiny no-name race'.

They were the inhabitants of Arborea and Olympus and Arvandor. They were like angels and demons and devils, creatures beyond simple classification as a 'race'; they were a category, and in many ways the physical extraplanar embodiments of the chaotic good alignment much as devils were lawful evil and archons were lawful good. They were as much a category as demi-human and humanoid, extraplanar beings who had many different forms and subtypes. Just because the lacklustre 3rd edition barely managed to include them doesn't dilute the fact that they were pretty damn major in their own way.

And were, in fact, the central point of several story arcs. These story arcs are now, as a consequence, rendered invalid. Hell, the settings that they were a part of are also rendered at least partly invalid as a result. Would you enjoy it if some of your favourite stories and settings were completely retconned away by some bunch of people in marketing thinking about what's 'popular'?