I think the class limitations actually help make the lore "real." If you could make Troll necromancers, people would stop thinking of Trolls as stupid/backward/simple-minded, weakening the differentiation between races. Paladins are zealous, pious crusaders - not the mentality of a shire-dwelling, pipe-weed-smoking, foot-combing halfling. If you let people make Halfling paladins, they will, and Halflings will lose their reputation as such and just become short Humans with better stats.
I'm not saying they made all perfect choices, though. I can't justify no Halfling rangers, no Erudite bards (too fun for Erudite society?), Barbarian rangers/druids, etc.
And while we're fantasizing about this fantasy, the idea about creating class/race restrictions via other means sounds intriguing. You would still see the differentiation because of practical reasons, but every so often, that Dark Elf ranger that stuck it out just like Drizzt, or a Dwarf that went bad - really bad - and became a shadowknight.
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