This same subject came up in the NWN2 boards. I used jagasepp's NWN2 Damage per Round Calculations to compute a fight between a level 1 barbarian and a level 1 fighter, both with no magic gear. The barbarian won about 5 of 6 different situations that I computed, easily. He just barely lost the last. IIRC it was barb with power attack vs. fighter with expertise(or whatever it's called now). IIRC, rage lasted throughout each fight. So, those are some situations where the barb is the strong combatant. I did some preliminary calculations with higher levels and saw the same pattern so I didn't bother to carry them out.
But, I see where Strauss is coming from. In my calculations, rage was the winning feat and lasted plenty long. In a campaign loaded with battle, you can't have enough rage. So you don't get to feel the power as often as wanted. And who wants to rest and go through another round of buffing?
Personally, I feel that the barb is kinda boring and too dependant on rage for his identity. I would add some dex boosts to his feats list to help him with the whole no armor/lightning reflexes image, of course, in the least exploitable manner possible.
