[DrKvothe]

A 51+ shaman with epic and JBB won't be sitting much at all. While standing, from 51-60, regen difference between troll/iksar and ogre/barb is just 3 health per tick. While that regen's not nothing, I doubt any 50+ barb/ogre would trade their JBB for 3 health per tick.

For a min/maxer with funds for twinking and/or PLvling, ogre might win out handily, but if you're brand new and untwinked:

Barbarian: levels 3x faster than anyone else thanks mostly to incredible turn-in quests. This is my opinion, but after trying the other prominent newbie-lowbie leveling paths, I've decided to level all of my non-kos alts through these quests, and they largely deter me from evil races (my cleric is a gnome instead of DE for this reason). You're non-kos in most places you'll want to go, so fewer random patrolling kos guards that new players frequently fail to avoid.

Iksar: regen + very rich leveling zones + monopoly on priest group role in these zones. Won't be able to afford JBB til 55-60 range, and at 60 you'll feel overpowered even without JBB.