Okay so the debate over the past 4 years whether Anet will/can introduce new playable races has been ongoing and yet as far as I know anet has never commented on the subject officially.
Some people want them and don’t care if Anet spends a lot of their manpower/resources to make it happen. I am sort of in this camp myself (bring on the Skritt I say!). Others don’t want anet to spend that manpower/resources as it will take it away from future expansions (unless of course they are working on it already as part of the expansion) and living story/other content. I too can understand this side of the argument, yet I still want new playable races lol.
So with all that being said on to my suggestion which could possibly address this. Basically it goes like this:
We get a new slot on our Hero screen similar to the “outfit” slot yet it does not effect the outfit or outfit slot in anyway except over-riding it if we have this new slot filled. In this new slot we would place the new “Race Combat Outfit/Item” (or whatever you want to call it). If we have this box filled with an item and checked then the outfit box will be unchecked and not apply that outfit.
What this item/feature would/could offer:
A new skin for your whole body, race, clothes and weapon. This skin works in combat and works similar to the outfit item as in it will not be unequipped when in combat or changing maps.
While transformed into this new playable race/skin extra features would/could be:
1 – Options to dye the outfit clothing with possibly skin, hair and anything other that might be unique to the race/clothing.
2 – Much like some of the current outfits (think executioner) these items will bring a new weapon as part of the item and as such will have unique combat skills for that weapon/outfit.
3 – Added on to the above we could also get a specific heal, utility and elite skills as part of the item. There could also be F skills added if needed.
4 – Your char would speak in a new voice during combat depending on what skills are used and what is happening. However this could be very limited and feature far less than what our normal chars currently do. I would also expect that these tonics may not be used in any story cut scenes, but that would be up to anet as they know more than I as to what can or can’t be done.
I think that is pretty much it. This may still sound like a lot of work and perhaps too much manpower/resources and to some not worth the effort. However I would disagree. It would also depend on how much anet would want to put into this if they did decide to as well of course as to what they would charge us for it. 
Having said that it would be less work than a totally new playable race. As they would not have to add/change maps for starting areas. They would not have to invent new Personal Stories. They would not have to worry about fixing all of the existing armours to work with the races as they would come with their own already!
These new items could bring in a lot of revenue for Anet and replace the already expanding new outfits. They could in theory also add a whole lot of new playable races that we could never have even dreamed of! Centaur, Jotun, Grawl anyone!? Heck even animals, don’t be a naysayer here, we already know they can do this – look at some of the hearts that are already in the game as well as the Norn transform elites. Think back to the Norn starting area as well as others for example.
Oh and I also expect that these items would not be usable in PvP, however WvW could be possible, but again – up to anet.
Okay said my piece, comments, yay’s, nay’s or other ideas to add on to this that I have not thought of already? 
(edited by Paulytnz.7619)