Yep, I agree...hitting a mob as a GM is the same as a player...they come after you with a vengeance. As an eqlive GM, the mobs will attack you if you attack them. They will not attack first, no matter how bad your faction is. So this is nothing different or new.
Yes, my mana bar gets drained from using effects as well. I'm sure that is just a bug that will be fixed shortly.
And finally, YES...the xp bar is slightly wacky.
But remember that the emu is in the early stages of developement and is always being improved.