Zero raids or groups “need” a necromancer so its more whatever you prefer.

Someone earlier mentioned a decent rationale for not going Iksar: you'll be 50 levels behind when Kunark hits and this is a rapidly-progressing server, not one that stagnates in Kunark for a decade

Appreciate all of the replies!

I'm going to roll necro at launch and just worry about iksar later if I decide to do that. Between Erudite and Dark Elf, do either of their quest options mentioned earlier provide a stronger advantage?

Also consider Human follower of bertoxx for cool factor.

Erudite gets a couple neat quests and eventually flayed skin but not till later. They get a pretty empty starting area away from everyone. DE gets a couple quests too but others can do them if they get their faction up. DE big advantage is it starts near 30% of the population and is close to a couple dungeons.