I haven't read all 40 pages of this thread but with as long as the discussion has gone on (it's now even spawning spinoff threads) I think the biggest issue to me with Lupin or any bestial race is the main story.

Throughout the early MSQ the division between beast tribes and the more human-looking part of the world is driven home a lot. Going through those cutscenes as what is essentially a member of a beast tribe seems odd to me. We even have the Ananta as a beast tribe despite them resembling humans in many ways more than the Lupin do.

It just don't see this as a necessary thing much less something that makes sense given the plot of this game. It sucks, I know some people feel really passionate about this, but I think we are only going to see races more similar to humans.