Picking a class for a first time player

For a positive all around play experience, go Mage. They are probably the easiest class to play on a new server.They can summon their own food, water, weapons, and magic containers that reduce weight gain for heavy items.

For a character who can explore with a bit less risk than other classes, consider a class that can Feign Death. That's the Monk's most noted special skill, though the Necromancer Pet Class gets a spell version of that skill.

For a character who can travel quickly, play a Druid. The get SOW (run speed boost) at 10th and start getting personal port spells soon after that.

So:

Mage for straight forward group friendly and solo friendly leveling up.

Monk for a melee class class that can feign death. (some might wait till Kunark is released to play Iksar Monk, but Human Monk is perfectly acceptable).

Druid for invisibility, water breathing, levitate, personal ports, group ports, very strong solo player but can potentially suffer player bias where groups hesitate to invite your Druid thinking your class spells aren't helpful enough. I never hesitate to group with Druids, myself, but that reputation has been around a long time.

I couldn't agree more! I played my first mage on Coirnav and had a blast (literally!). haha They are not gear dependent and you can sit back and observe and learn without being in the fray of things. Also, mages have many fun clickies, earned through quests, which will keep you as busy as you want to be. https://wiki.project1999.com/Clickies will help locate all those.

Also, I laughingly agree that pulling nowadays is simply training your group. lol! Funny and true!