If theres one thing D&D doesn't do right it's Half-Elves, my favorite race. I've been playing since basic in the 80s and loved the race when they were introduced but sadly they've always kinda sucked compared to the others. The only edition to do them right is 4th ed, and while I've had fun with my Half-Elf Warlock my group is moving to 5th soon and I'm very curious.
My Players Handbook doesn't get here till friday and the playtest half-elf was pretty wishy/washy so I'm both worried and eager to know if they suck again in 5e. Are they once again cursed?
Judge it by yourself; [EDITED]
HALF-ELF
Ability Score: +2 CHA +1 ANY TWO
Darkvision 60 feet.
Fey Ancestry: Can't be put to sleep by magic + advantage on saves vs charmed.
Skill Versatility: +2 any skills
Languages: Common,Elvish, +1 any
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that they make better fae than the elves do. Take that as you will.
Plaguescarred wrote:
The +1 to two stats combined with a +2 to Charisma plus any two skills & darkvision make for a very versatile character that can suit many roles and classes. Given the amount of benefit and the amount of classes that work off of Charisma the only classes that will make poor choices for a half elf are those that would dump Charisma.
Karnos wrote:
Wow thanks guys, puts my mind at ease. I might just roll up my favorite Half-Elf Feylock from 4e again. :D
Thye make good bards too 
+! any two?? With another +2 to charisma-- which is supposedly like a feat in value, right? So like a varient human in value. Except with the added bonus of Dark Vision.
+2 CHA/Fey Ancestry/Darkvision may not be as useful as particular feat for some build though. Some fighter may instead prefer effects from feats such as Heavy Armor Master, Sentinel or Polearm Master for exemple.
Half elves are so good now that theres 2 of them in my 5 player group 
Half-elves rock in this edition.
I prefer elves just due to personal preference, and the majority of my characters through the last 30 years were elves. I even almost soley played elves in 3.5e even though that Con hit was brutal. I have never, EVER played a half-elf as they always were underwhelming. I like Next's half-elves. They'll probably be my goto for any charisma based class. They are unique in that they get +4 total to 3 stats, and you could make all those stats count with any single class character that benefits from charisma, unlike humans +1 across the board.
I think the real question is why would anyone want to play a (non-varient) human instead of a half-elf?
The only reasons I can think of are if they don't care for charisma, or if nearly all of their ability scores without the +1 are odd.
I think I would have prefered it if half-elf darkvision was only 30 feet instead of 60 feet. It's just as good as the full elf.