Drastically changing a race is kind of a big thing... Introducing a new race in the next major rules revision and giving folks the chance to race change in the "magic hiccup" would probably be better PR.
I'd have been extraordinarily angry if my primary celestial ritualist was forcibly made this new race (when she was still human), it wouldn't make any sense with her character history or goals. Even if I hadn't already been seeking a race change, it would have almost required (based on history and goals) that she stop the other storylines she was involved in, or at least divert from them, and RC-quest.