Faeries: So you thought they neutered Faeries? Wrong. They still have the second best population bonus in the game at 5%. When you break down their military you'll find that they are fairly cost efficient and space efficient. Defense is always important and faeries are the masters of it. Clear sight has been weakened but it's still a factor and thief worth his salt will take into consideration. Faeries are still a force to be reckoned with.
Gnomes: I was a huge Gnome fan and this may still be the race I play. However, Gnomes has lost a little of their luster. Their cost per elite unit has been raised from 500 GC to 600 GC. That means their cost advantage over Dwarves for the same amount of offensive/defensive power has dropped from around 15% to around 2%. While Gnome will take off to an early lead in the rankings, the other races will catch up later in the game. I would not be surprised if the top Gnome players have 50?0% housing to take care of all those elites. That's a big minus. I would steer clear of Gnomes unless you are trying to be a top player. A mid-size or small gnome ='s a scooby snack for other races.
Dwarves: The most space efficient and powerful of the races, Dwarves can be dangerous customers. On the other hand they tend to cost a lot to gain that power. Also, the mid-range dwarves tend to send out too many zerks and become great land grab targets. Dwarves are a race that you can succeed with if you keep the cash rolling in.
Orcs: Orcs are another race that gets off to a lightning fast start. Their 10% population bonus and their -30% attack time are both huge advantages. Orcs have the cheapest troops overall as well. However, those defensive specialists take up a ton of space and this makes Orcs tend to fade at the end of the game compared to the more space efficient races. Also, the 2 hour addition to attack time for off island attacks reduces the effectiveness of the Orcs attack bonus. This is another race you should avoid unless you are looking to get big. Small and medium sized Orcs tend to make nice snacks for bigger players. Be careful if you aren't looking to get big.
Elves: Elves aren't bad. They're kind of middle of the road as far as cost, space, and NW are concerned. Their combat losses bonus is like having maxed out hospitals as well. While Elves have no huge plus's, they have no huge minuses either. Elves will be competitive this round and are capable of being top flight provinces.
Humans and Harpies: These two races suck so bad they aren't worth seperate entries. Human elites are terrible and ridiculously expensive. Their 15% cash bonus doesn't even begin to make up for it. Avians are horribly space ineficient and their 15% bonus to attack time is useless with new increase to attack time off island. I would strongly advise you to avoid both of these races like they were radioactive unless Echelon comes through with some big additions that make these races playable in the next round or two.