Hello all!

So as the title says I've been playing for about a week now, I've never played in the past so this experience in game has been all new and awesome to boot! I'm a long time everquest player, wow player and tons of other mmo and rpg games over my gaming time in life.

I don't get much time to play so alts are kinda down the road thing for me after I get a end game character going. But I'm having a hard time settling on a class.

I have a 14 BD and various other ones that I was tinkering with. As I don't have tons of time to group every session I want something that can solo effectively but when I do group I'd like it to be functional and beneficial in groups. From listening to others about how the BD is a solo class and pretty much anything else will get picked first is a turn off to me for when I do get time to group I'd like to be in demand per say.

Where should I go class wise? Any input would be awesome! Thanks

there is no such class/specc that is effective for solo and grps in all situations. what maybe comes close to it, with compromises, would be a skald but there are already hundreds of skalds so finding grps won't be that easy too. daoc just isn't a game where every class can do everything like in modern mmo's so if you looking for that ultimate allrounder class daoc will prolly be the wrong game for you.

Good solo classes tend to have both damage output and sustain/regen after fights. For this reason, shamans are amazing (endurance buff makes you in high demand for groups, and DoT spells allow you to solo effectively in combination with all your buffs) and skalds are also pretty nice if you prefer a melee class (besides that, movement speed makes leveling and tasking that much faster). Warriors, Zerkers, runemasters, healer (aug spec is decent for solo because of self buffs and haste, plus celerity at level 18), or hunter are good. If you have the patience to get to level 15-18 as hunter, you can charm arachite priests near spindelhalla. If you put it on passive, the pet will automatically heal you any time you drop below 70% hp. Very helpful for solo leveling. Be sure to also look at the Midgard leveling guide for helpful tips and good areas to XP in!

Yeah I've figured out there isn't a one character does everything. I've played enough older style mmo to know what it's like. But since all these classes are unique in comparison...well that's why I'm asking

I may try a shaman next, they seem to be the popular answer for what I may be looking for, thanks for the help! Hunter seems cool but they get so much bad credit from literally everyone who talks about them... other than the 7 hunters lol

If I were you I'd stick with the BD for now. Just group up as much as you can and try to make some friends and learn what certain things mean. So if you do switch to a support class you're not confused by people asking for DA or POM. And if you keep grouping with the same folks, they may ask that you try a different class to fill out their group.