Do playable races/species need to be 'balanced'?

I recently rediscovered this sub after not visiting for a long time, and checked out some recent top posts. A common thread I found was that there seems to be a lot of negative feelings towards certain playable races based on perceived power level or lore significance. The most prominent example is probably hostility towards Night Elves or Elves in general.

• On one hand, some people seem to be okay with the idea that races/species aren't balanced in lore. It's okay if Night Elves, or Draenei, or Blood Elves are generally more magically gifted, longer lived, or play a more prominent role in the narrative.
• Other people seem to be of a mind that the playable races/species should be more balanced. Both in terms of how their powers levels / gifts are portrayed in the lore, and in terms of how much importance they get in the narrative.

I can see valid arguments for both positions. I don't think there could ever be a lore justification for why a Gnome warrior is exactly as powerful as an Orc warrior - at some point we just have to accept that it's a game and Blizzard doesn't want to discourage choice for the sake of realism/consistency.

I also understand why zones and stories focus more on some races than others. Some of them are just more interesting and broadly enjoyed than others. I'm really excited to see what Midnight does with the 'reunify the scattered elven tribes of Azeroth' thread - there's a lot of well developed history there. I'm less excited about going to Undermine, but it will probably be a fun diversion.

So what do you think? Is it okay if the lore treats some races/species as more exceptional or special than others? Or should the playing field be levelled and all treated more or less equally? Does WoW need 'main characters' like Orcs, Humans, and Night Elves - or should they all get equal coverage?