Inq, Fury or Defiler - need some help

I have tried several classes in EQ2, but for some reason I have yet to really try a Priest class. For some reason I have felt they were too "boring", seeing as they only serve a support function. Especially since I solo a lot, I like a class that can work well for that.
Most of my chars are "good guys", so I would like to try something else now. I have read a bit about the three classes, but I have no experience with either of them, and so would just like some input from you guys who have played them.
Can you give me a quick overview of Inq, Fury and Defiler? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How do they differ from each other?
Any help is greatly appreciated. I have just bought another char slot, and am ready to go.

inquis is one of the funner classes and maybe mystic. for the most part it's the melee line that makes them funner than the slower casting damage. fury is ok too but it's a different play style. instead of hitting something with a weapon you usually root and nuke it to death also has good potential on aoe fights.

Druids (furies and wardens) are the fastest casting priests. Their heals are mainly HoTs (heals over time). Furies do their damage with spells, wardens (with AAs spent for it) do their damage in melee.
Clerics (inquisitors and templars) are the middle casting speed priests. Their heals are main heals are reactives (cast on the mob ahead of time and every time time the toon takes damage, a set amount of healing is done until the ticks wear out). With AAs, inquisitors do their damage in melee. I've never played a templar, but I'd guess thier damage would be mostly spell based.
Shaman (mystics and defilers) are the slowest casting priests. Their heals are wards (cast before hand and they absorb damage that would have been applied to the toon). With AAs mystics do their damage in melee. Most of a defilers dps is spell based. Soloing with a defiler is slow going. You're not going to die, but it will take you forever to kill things.

In summary, templar, defiler and fury are mostly spell/ranged dps and inquisitor, mystic, warden are (with AA) mostly melee based dps.

Defiler = wears chain, awful dps and the strongest healer of the three. If you want to solo you better have a crazy dps merc with you. You will almost always be the solo healer of any group you adventure with as you contribute basically nothing else to the group. Unlike the two below who can change aa specs to make them significantly more powerful in dps or heals...defilers...really just can't dps no matter how hard they try (mystics are a different story).
Inq = wears plate, melee dps and a great healer. This is the best solo priest class and contributes nice buffs for melee classes on top of good dps and great heals. They are AA heavy, so if you are one to shoot to 90 then AA...you will be unhappy until you are nearly maxed out -- AA's make this class gods. (I've been expecting nerfs for a long time, yet...they are untouched).
Fury = wears leather, ranged spell dps and very fast heals. Furies are really fun in low/mid levels, but when you reach higher levels, their weaknesses start to pile up. They are tough to solo heal hard content with, they always have power issues (heals and dps are all power based unlike other priests) -- and you pretty much have to reforge all the gear you get to make it more suitable for their playstyle. Imagine the playstyle if you were a wizard that can heal....except you get half the dps and all other priests can significantly outheal you.
As far as their weaknesses it's in their healing style posted above. Defilers slow casting is made up because their healing prevents dmg being taken as opposed to Furies fast casting that can only heal dmg already occured. You would think it would balance out, but with proper equipment, casting speed can be significantly increased, whereas keeping someone up that's taking absurd amounts of dmg...really can't. I've never seen a fury top a heal parse in a raid nor have I ever seen a defiler out dps any other priest, but I'm sure it's happened before, yet very very rarely. Hope that helps.

My raid main is a warden, my raid alt is a defiler, and my new raid main after the next GU will be my inquisitor (with the warden as alt)...
If you like to cast with any speed at all, stay away from the defiler. They are slow... slow... Slowwwwww. Even in raid gear with casting speed adorns, they are slow. Leveling them is a special kind of suffering. Their wards are amazing, but even those cast slooooowly. And having only one group cure is a detriment in raiding. If you've never tried a priest class before, leveling a defiler may make you never want to try one again.
I love wardens and inquisitors. I prefer melee to casting, and both these classes have that option with AAs. Both are far faster casting than defilers. Both can have 2 group cures. Both are excellent healers. If you're considering raiding, I'd go with the inquisitor over the warden (mostly because of lingering notions that wardens have few raid options). If you don't intend to raid, either of these classes would make excellent, fun choices.
Personally, I'd stay away from the fury, just because I don't like casting classes or root and nuke... But that's a wholly personal opinion

The defiler is the most defensive healer of the three you listed. Since you express aversion to a support role and plan to solo, I would cross that one off your list. Fwiw: in the right hands defilers can do some respectable dps in a raid. True story!
Inquisitors, aka: WINquisitors

• have a boatload of offensive abilities
• are generally specced to do melee damage via AA choices
• use reactive heals, meaning the heals are place on the players in advance and trigger as damage is received
  • contrary to popular opinion, the base casting time of an inquisitor's reactives are the same as a defiler's wards--both are slow

Furies

• considered the more offensive of the druids
• deal damage through spell-casting
• use heals-over-time (HoTs) that tick heals at set intervals through the spell's duration
  • HoTs do not last long but are very fast casting
  • when damage comes in on a player, HoTs are the last type of heal to be applied; wards--> reactives-->HoTs

From your posting, I don't think you would like defiler at all. Slow casting heals with very little offensive potential until late in game.
Inquis in my opinion is the most fun to play. It is by far my favorite alt and would be my preferred main if I could pull of swaping to it. Its a melee focused offensive healer. Plate armors along with stun/interupt immunities makes it an extremely effective solo class.
The fury is like wizard lite with some heals. Ranged dps, some big hitters, some roots, etc. Fairly squishy when they take hits but imo more options in getting things dead before they get hit.
If you favor melee go inq or warden, if you favor casters go fury. If you favor poking your eye out with a pencil while you wait for wards to cast thru interupts while mobs die at a snails pace, go defiler.

Consider a Mystic instead of a Defiler. Though, both are slow to start out.
Mystics and Defilers are slow...but armor and adorns can help that a bit. I prefer a Mystic for the melee aspect. AA's are the key here, IMO. Get a lot of them early and continue building them up. Max out your strikes and speed lines. Adorn for speed and look for Fabled gear that buffs for speed.
I'm soloing Moors right now on a level 74 Mystic with 200AA fighting level 80 heroics.
My mid 70's Mystic and Brigand are my 2 favorite classes right now. I've left all my level 90's gathering dust in the corner to play these 2 classes. Though to be honest, I doubt I would be having as much fun on them had I not played so many other classes.
Raf

Thanks a bunch for all the replies, everyone!

From what you say, Defiler is a no-go. Not sure if I want to go Inq or Fury, though. I prefer caster, but I have both a Wizard and a Warlock, so having a third one of those, but with less DPS, doesn't sound too tempting.

On the other hand, even though Inq might be easier, being melee and wearing plate, it sounds like a regular warrior, only less effective. And I usually find regular melee to be the most uninteresting of all classes to play.

The fun and being able to take more hits is what draws me to Inq. And that it's probably the easiest to solo of them priests. But Fury, being a caster class and wearing leather, is more in line with what I'm looking for in a priest. Not as good DPS as Wizard/Warlock, but they can heal.

Hm, still not sure.

Inquisitor is stupidly overpowered for a priest. May as well pick that.
Defilers currently play second fiddle to Mystics, and Fury currently has less utility, DPS and healing potential than an Inquisitor.
Clerics get a stupidly overpowered ability called Equilibrium which allows you to ignore effects that would kill the group wheras the druid AE blocks do not. Not to mention that Inquisitors get a group cure that can be cast while moving / being thrown in the air.
So yeah, if you want the best healer, go Inquisitor. Or Mystic if you want to heal a tank / scout group.