Min/Max - Endgame: Iksar, hands down as you've said.
Rolling anything but an Iksar will get you insulted by some and joked about by others. Now, that being said...
I'm not an Iksar fan, and my only Iksar I've ever really played was an Iksar Beastlord I made back on live in uh... Discord era I think. (Which was 100% for the scaled wolf pet, I kept my AoN on him and never looked back)
My Necromancer is an Erudite, and enjoyable. Obviously not having the exp penalty is handy while living (Worthless at 60 of course), and having quick access to one of the coolest cities and easy purchase of a Hole Key was nice. The Shoulders they can quest are handy too, (
http://wiki.project1999.com/Azraxs'_Legacy) and should last you a decent while.
Faction on the other hand, I can't really speak of much. Guards are just too fun to kill...