You get the +2/+1 to flavor your stats and a feat to be cool.
2. have all have half-elves +2/+1+/1 ASI, or alternative +1 to 5 abilities.
Earlier editions of D&D employed mechanics that confuse "biology" with "culture". This is the essence of the D&D problem with reallife racism.
Linking ability improvements to "race" is harmful. The moment one looks to reallife cultures for inspiration to describe a "low Intelligence" "race", it is instantly problematic.
Nevermind some "inspirations", such as fantasy literature, are saturated with the reallife racisms of the previous centuries.
The D&D mechanics that confuse "biology" and "culture" enforce the perpetuation of racism.
The Playtest is a breakthru. (Tashas and other 5e books set the precedents.) The Playtest reorganizes the earlier "race" mechanics, into "species" mechanics and "background" mechanics. It is the background mechanics that determines the ability improvements. This is a precise solution.
It is no longer possible to describe and characterize how an entire species is "low Intelligence".
It is not even possible to describe and characterize how an entire culture is "low Intelligence".
The background design space means, the INDIVIDUAL can be "low Intelligence" or "high Intelligence". There is no such thing as a culture that is.
Example, a character that trains to excel as a Gladiator seems likelier to be stronger than a character who trains to be a Sage. Moreover, these characters can continue to advance in Strength and Intelligence, respectively, as they advance to higher levels. Meanwhile, the background design is versatile, and makes it easy (and legal) to create characters who are individuals that dont represent the trend. Some Sages really are very strong.
Meanwhile, every "Humanoid" species is, by definition, comparable to reallife humans, with free will, the capacity of speech, the ability to learn, the ability to organize into social groups, in other words, form a culture that is diverse.
By mechanically focusing on the individual background, the Playtest makes it possible to escape the earlier problem of the D&D collective stereotypes and racisms.
Unfortunately, the D&D Elf traditions are profoundly racist in numerous ways. Both the elven mechanics and the elven narratives are toxic. It is difficult to continue the D&D Elf without being racist.
Not everything is bad. There are aspects of the D&D Elf traditions that are wonderful. I love the magic. I appreciate the beauty. I like the diversity of Elves. Many players do. But the Elf has issues.
The Playtest designers are close to resolving the issues with the Elf. Removing the ability improvements from the Elf species is a breakthru. Noticing the difference between one "kind" of Elf and an other "kind" of Elf, is actually the choice of spells, identifies what the Elf concept is, and how to make it diverse, in ways that avoid racist or cultural stereotypes.
Not everything needs to be a spell ... but for the Elf concept it kinda does.
Like the mechanics for the Human species, having mechanics for the Elf species that focus on the individual, who participates in a wider community, is how to have both diversity and avoid stereotypes.