How is a drow shaman at 50 beating on a 42 ogre warrior any different from a human shaman doing the same? I guess that's my basic question.
Though both would be unfair to the 42 who would be at a serious disadvantage the Drow woud be more so unbalancing. Higher dex would make him much harder to hit than a similarly dressed human. Also int and wis would contrbute to the already skewed saves rolls with this kind of level spread. Add in the drows autosneak racial (if used effectivly) and you have a much harder fight.
As it is now, the comparison is that the 50 drow shaman can beat a 45 as bad as a 50 human shaman can beat a 42. The drows racials combined with more focused stat bonus' would give him/her an even more excesive advantage than the lvl alone.
hmm double post disease...
How is a drow shaman at 50 beating on a 42 ogre warrior any different from a human shaman doing the same? I guess that's my basic question.
Because the Ogre can see the Human enter the room.
Thanks for the response Kyzarius. It brought up some stuff I failed to consider. But, in the end, I still gonna stick with I don't think we need them. As I still don't see a difference. But that's just me. I'm not saying anyone else is wrong, though.
But a better example, I guess, let's look at clerics. A dwarf cleric will have a harder pk range, while a human have an easier Now, looking at stats here the human seems to be better suited for life as a cleric, and should by my skewed logic have the harder pk range. The Dwarf, while making a decent cleric, is out shadowed by the human in regards to Mana and training time, and also has a pretty nasty vuln. HP isn't something I'd consider a bending factor too much here, as clerics have cure critical to draw out a fight. So, my question now is what makes a dwarf cleric a better choice than a human one, and thus warrants the disadvantage later in game (pre 50)?
a-g
Dwarf clerics are NICE, don't just think of healing and mana for clerics (although Dwarf Mana isn't bad) Cleric Melee also has a large part to play. Dwarven HPs and Str with certain Religion DI make for a very nice Cleric
If you think having magic resist as a cleric means little, you haven't played enough clerics. 
Mag resist as a cleric is huge. Saves you a few slots to toss in more +hit or hp gear as you see fit. Coupled with several of the more versatile DIs you can have one nasty nasty cleric.
Dwarf clerics are not inferior.
I have one with 1000+ HP/Mana base.
what's his equipped mana/hp?
I dont use Mana/HP equipment, with Invokers being the exception.
I prefer healing items or tic time sleep.
Back to Berserkers, they should be 0 exp penalty.
Can always change back if you see a slew of Berserkers fly up and start to rape the general population....
The thing about the xp pen is in the pre pinn world berserkers kick serious butt. It is when you get to 50, and gear begins to make more of a difference in peoples defences, casters have all their toys, that their weaknesses become evident.
I would prefer to see simple changes to optimize the class.
For example...
1, Change headbutt to one round lag with a more pronounced "thunderclap" effect.
2, up the damage part of haymaker.
3, give them doublesheathing.
as just some examples...
I like my zerks - and there have been quite a few threads about getting them toned up in line with the other classes. Its true, zerks have a few issues these days.
Ranking isn't one of them - and this is what the xp pen is really meant to impact on. For the first 35 ranks its easier to rank a zerk than any other class - especially if you are a giant. Ogres aren't far behind. For this reason I don't think zerks should have the xp penalty removed.
As far as what they need there are many threads on this - I'm hoping the IMMs have something in the works after that last lot of small changes for us. Time will tell - but I agree zerks need something. I just don't think its a xp penatly tone down.
L-A
Actually, I find ferals to be one of the easiest ranking of anything...especially feral warriors.
I'd love to see something added to Zerk's special skills to make them more worth using.
Headbutt - chance to be 'blinded by the blood in your eyes' - restrung flamebreath
Haymaker - chance of minor lag attached - grapple like lag. Would make landing Haymaker worth it, as you'd get a round of damage before they fled off to replace whatever you knocked out.
Roar - currently reduces str right? Must be something more valuable than that it can be given to make it worth using
hundreds of threads on this 
Im sure malch's next 15 changes might have a few interesting tweaks in them. Patience!