Guild Wars 2

It would be cool if different races gave different stat bonuses (very minor ones)

Example:
Norn live in the cold icy north, so they would logically grant toughness, vitality and strength

Charr is all about fighting, they would naturally give critical damage, vitality and strength

Asura is very intelligent and they probably found a way to improve their boon duration, condition duration and condition duration (self) by now.

Sylvari is born of nature, and their healing power, vitality and endurance regeneration would naturally be better

Humans are strong in numbers, nimble and quick, therefore their boon duration, endurance regeneration and Critical chance is higher

Just an example of what each race could give you. What i would suggest is not huge bonuses, but say, something equal to what you get from a single Exotic backpiece.
Why add bonuses to races? well, it would bring some immersion. i mean, a norn, born in the cold hard north, would need a natural toughness that a human born in the far south would. Simply because the climates, living conditions and requirements for survival are different.

ANet does not want it so that race X is better than race Y or that you have some sort of advantage over others. Their solution was the racials we have now. Which are a bit underwhelming, but the idea is good.

I’m afraid that your suggestion would not work, I don’t agree with it and it is too late to change it now.

No thanks, this along with other racial bonus suggestions I’ve seen (such as Norn/Charr have a speed bonus because they are bigger/have longer legs). This would make people who want to min/max pigeon-holed into certain race-class combos. Also how would you even “balance” this? How much +boon duration is equivalent to extra power or extra crit damage.

If you made the stat increases noticeable this would happen immediately (and also everyone would complain that the race-class combo they have is now bad and they have to relevel a new character). People are willing to spend a lot of money to just get infusions that give +5AR and +5 stat (or some get ascended gear also for the infusion stat bonuses), and exotic back pieces give more than +5 to a single stat. Do you really want to see, “LFM Charr War only”

The immersion comes from the skins/environment/RP, not from stat bonuses. If you want another example where it “fails” just look at DnD. A very balanced approach if I say, but how many half-orc bards do you see (and yes the ones I’ve seen are very funny/great)? But, you only see them if someone wants to play against the norm or make something for “fun” (without being useful).