new to EQ2, class roles help

I played EQ2 for a month when it was released so essentially I'm new to it. I played EQ for years (had a shaman), WoW for years (had a vanilla prot warrior and most recently fury warrior), LOTRO (champ), etc etc...
I'm having trouble figuring out the inteded class roles for the EQ2 classes... are all the "fighter" types essentially tank types/scouts dps etc? Are there certain classes that are better tanks or healers than others? I've been toying around with a few classes so far only to about lvl 7... berserker, pally, sk, monk, mystic i think i've all tried but none have stood out as "oh definately this one" or "definately not this one" yet at such low levels.
It seems there have been some major changes to how the classes play since release so it's been hard to find up to date information.

Trying to find a guide would be futile, since all guides are based on opinion for the most part. Every expansion the roles of classes can change based on new abilities via AA's or spells. Last I heard, one of the developers was working on something to this effect which will be used to better define what the role of each class is and would serve as a design guide for future development of classes. The below is based a lot on opinion and what you'll see in the current raid environment of EQ2. It's by no means an end-all guide for class roles, but should give you a basic idea to go off of. I would suggest looking up class guides for whatever classes you're most interested in to get much more detail on what they can do.
There are some classes that simply aren't needed as much in a raid (i.e. fighters) while other classes are packed into every group in a raid (i.e. enchanters/bards).
Fighters = tanks
Priests = healers
Scouts = melee DPS
Mage = caster DPS
You can break it down further (this is where that "opinion" thing I mentioned comes into play):
Bards - Hybrid melee/caster; troubadors are more caster focused for buffs while dirges are more melee focused for buffs. Dirges are also a huge asset for tanks, with hate gain and stoneskin. Troubadors are loved by any caster and are opposite dirges in that they decrease the hate gain of any non-fighters in the group. Both are very heavy utility classes and sought after in raids. Every raid group will typically have one of either type of bard if it's available.
Enchanters - Primary utility; they don't get to do much crowd control in EQ2, though they would be the best class in the game for it if there was more focus on it. From reading developer posts, crowd control may become more sought after in future content. Coercers are more built for a tank group setup, while illusionist are built more towards DPS groups. Every raid group will usually have an enchanter of either flavor.
Sorcerors & Predators - Your major DPS classes, who specialize in pure destruction. Wizards and Warlocks are the caster versions. Warlocks seem to have quite a bit more AOE type damage, while wizards specialize more in single target. Assassins and Rangers are your melee/ranged versions. There's arguments all over the place over whether or not rangers can hold up to assassin damage, but assassins are primarily melee DPS while rangers use bow attacks. Assassins are also able to transfer hate, so you'll find a few guilds with one in their main tank group to help with tank aggro (swashbucklers transfer a slightly higher precentage of their hate to their target, see below).
Rogues - Both brigands and swashbucklers have different roles, but both have quite a bit of debuffs. Brigand specialize in debuffing how well a target can defend itself, while swashbucklers have an edge on debuffs that lower the damage output of the target. Debuffing has argubly fallen to the wayside due to caps on how much you can debuff a target, but rogues are still good to have in a raid. Brigands are primarily single target, while swashbucklers are more AOE oriented. Swashbucklers also have a hate transfer, so are used in tank groups over a brigand. Finally, rogues also have tank-like setups they can go with and are used as offtanks on some fighters for some guilds.
Summoners - Pet classes. Necromancers specialize in undead, disease and poison. Conjurors specialize in elementals and elemental based spells. Both have gotten a huge boost and been given more utility. A good summoner can keep up with sorcerors quite well and add a bit of extra utility to the group/raid
Warriors - These are the more defensive tanks of the bunch and wear plate. Guardians have a ton of defensive abilities but are probably the lowest damage output of all of the tanks. Berserkers are more offensive than guardians and have a ton of AOE type damage attacks. You'll find some of the top guilds use either of these. There was a time when guardian was the only flavor of tank to use for endgame raiding, but that's not so much the standard these days.
Knights - Shadowknights are more offensive. Paladins are more defensive. Both wear plate and can only use shield/weapon or two handed fighting style. More or less you can use the same comparison here that you used in EQ1. There's more to them, but both work well in MT or offtank positions in a raid setting. Some of the top guilds in the game use a knight as their main tank.
Brawlers - I'd probably fail in describing the differences between the two, so I won't really try. Both wear leather and are primarily avoidance based tanks. Some guilds have used brawlers as main tanks, but generally they're used in an offtank/support role.
Shaman - Shamans specialize in wards, or abilities that absorb damage. Due to how wards work, shaman are the frontline healers and handle spike damage the best. They do have the lowest potential healing of any class of priest, but tend to waste very, very little (again, due to how wards apply themselves first before other heals). Mystics are more melee based and offensive, while defilers are spell based and more defensive. Both are fine healers, though in most cases you'll find defilers in the primary tank positions and mystics in DPS groups.
Clerics - Clerics specialize in reactives, which are simply heals that heal as damage is done (think Spirit of the Reptile from EQ1, that druids had). Templars are much more defensive based, while Inquisitors are more offensive. You'll typically see templars in tank positions, with inquisitors in DPS groups.
Druids - Druids specialize in regeneration type healing. Furies are more spell based and work best in a group full of mages, while wardens are more melee based and tend to work best in melee groups or tank groups. Both are great healers, though regens tend to be the most wasteful of healing compared to wards or reactives.

Koinoo@Crushbone wrote:

Crusaders, not Knights.

Also Monks and Bruisers are pretty much the same. Bruisers have a slight aoe dps advantage, and Monks have better single target.

Thanks for the input... I'm not to worried about raid situations as I've never had the time to really be able to raid much. I just didn't want to play a class like say a Berserker and get into a group being expected to tank, if I had the idea it was a DPS class like EQ1 lol. I made a necro last night and have been having the most fun with that so far.

Necro, played right, is a great class for self-sufficiency. Do take Tainted Heals AAs. You aren't gonna hear cries of joy from prospective groups (you don't bring buffs) but if you are good at what you do, you can get groups. I've seen some very decent parses from necros, and their Feign Death and ability to rez can be an asset in a wipe situation.
Yes, most fighters are expected to tank. Bruisers and monks may not, but if they don't, getting groups may be hard for them. Priests are expected to heal and cure first, dps second. Furies got a bad name for trying to be mini wizards and being so weak at healing (before they changed the stat rules) that most groups wouldn't for a long time use a random fury for a healer. Each class has its strengths and weaknesses - there is some imbalance still, talk to illusionists - but overall if you are skilled at your class, you'll get a reputation for it and that will overcome prejudices about your chosen role.

Koinoo@Crushbone wrote:

That was a very good write up Koinoo