The 1-50 stipulation makes a big difference when considering class power. For example, Shaman peak very late at 60, and Clerics can't begin to fully take advantage of CH until the high 40s. So most of the power of those classes is not utilized 1-50. For leveling 1-50, DPS is king, and you only want the minimum amount of CC and heals necessary to keep the DPS flowing.
I'm also going to assume minimal or no twinking here, because something like Monk/Warrior/Shaman plays much differently 1-50 when all three players are starting with Fungis and high end haste/weapons vs. starting naked. Casters are overpowered in small group situations, and melees are a liability in small groups unless heavily twinked (the famed Monk/Shaman isn't even that good for leveling without both being modestly twinked - certainly falling short of a good caster duo). So your best small groups will always be full of casters. You don't get enough efficiency out of melees until you start nearing full group size where you can take advantage of multiple class synergies.
All that being said, I would argue for the following (not allowing for multiples of the same class aka overpowered Enchanters):
2 - Enchanter/Druid (outdoor double charm & fear kiting)
3 - Enchanter/Druid/Necro (add Necro DPS and utility)
4 - Enchanter/Druid/Necro/Mage (more DPS)
5 - Monk/Shaman/Enchanter/Necro/Mage (a more traditional group becomes competitive at this size)
6 - Monk/Shaman/Enchanter/Necro/Mage/Warrior (add best DPS tank)
Considerations:
- Charm is highly overpowered
- Summoned pet DPS is underrated, efficient and versatile (i.e. fear kiting with pets is infinitely preferable to using melee PCs)
- Clerics are mostly wasted 1-50 because CH isn't a factor
- Rogues can't DPS fully without a hybrid tank or a root on every mob, so a leveling group is better off with a Monk/Warrior combo, which spreads the tanking around while maximizing DPS and allows the Monk to chain pull while Warrior tanks
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