Great points. I forget how difficult starting as a shaman will be. Either a evil race who can’t take advantage of CB or a barb who is in a isolated area that I know nothing about.

If I did go shaman is ogre the best choice followed by troll? I honestly lean toward barbarian just so I can do some of the noob quests.

I think I have narrowed it down between shaman and cleric now.

Ogre frontal stun immunity is life changing. When you solo and root breaks there's an average of 4-5 casts before your re-root actually lands from all the mob stuns. As an Ogre you don't have to worry about that. i.e. whether that unrest death beetle stun interrupts your heal or not can make the difference between life or death. Not to mention the melee stats on the Ogre are absolutely INSANE, making melee shaman very viable even in high levels. Instead of wasting mana root rotting or sending the pet you can just buff yourself and Hulk Smash your way to max level.

Trolls get regeneration, which is amazing, and their stats are pretty good too. Layer Chloroplast on top of their natural regen and lose yourself canni dancing your whole mana bar back. Their stats are very good too, and they're less mana-crippled than Ogres but also less effective in melee. Personally I tend to alt tab when regenning so I don't really feel the difference but if you're in a rush and want to move from pull to pull ASAP then definitely go for Troll.

Barbarians are pretty unique. They don't get an innate racial aside from their decent stats (decently more caster-oriented than Ogre or Troll making melee barb shammy not as viable late game) but the positive faction is a must have for a newbie. I traditionally do the bone chips quest then crushbone and HHK after Unrest so if you want to level as fast as possible and cheese your way through the early levels then Barb is the way to go. The run from Halas to North Karana however is absolutely agonizing. (unless you're on blue, you can just dial a Surefall port)

Can't speak for Cleric, the only one I have is a Dwarf I took to 20. But I hear they're very capable soloers if you know where to go and are much more straightforward than shammy. You can't afford to zone out when playing SHM since you have to multitask slowing mobs + tracking and refreshing long buffs + rebuffing haste + watch where your pet is going + canni dance constantly when not casting, whereas a cleric can just turn their brain off and fill the draining health bars like reverse whack-a-mole.

Play a Dark Elf Cleric. You won't regret it.

Benanov, that was a good cleric description.

Think I’m going to make a ogre shaman.

Only thing holding me back has been no ability to go to CB and do belts and pads. Is it possible to do that quest with wolf form?

I've been rocking barb shammy and love it. Having the Gnoll Fangs and Bandit Sash quests really helped catapult me through the 7-14 range. Remember you don't get invis till 29 either, so being good-aligned makes travel much easier.

Yeah I was going to say if you don't know Everfrost/Permafrost/Halas then that's a good reason to start a barbarian, always been one of my favorite places and is way nicer and more interesting in general than ogre/troll. Its only disadvantage to me is its remoteness, have to admit you end up doing more running as a Barbarian than about any other race. Except Iksar maybe.

But I just plain like it, mammoths and frost giants and snow leopards and a snowy landscape, and at 20 you hop into Perma, the original Sol A except in teal blue <rimshot>.

If the stats are really what you want, then go Ogre, but I think you might have more fun being a Barb.

Stats aren't going to make much difference. Troll is significantly better than ogre in this time period.

Clerics don't have to be boring, in the absence of a bard/enchanter I've been the guy who will stun aggro adds and root them...you're an undead wizard if you want to solo (see the class guides section on the wiki), and eventually you'll have one of the most powerful/important epics in the game.

For bonus points, pick a dark elf... and try to purple line your tank before a CH lands, as Innoruuk wills it ;)

Cleric is in fact way better soloer than wizard 1-50, especially if you stick to undead. They can wear plate, take hits and heal themselves, and bash mobs at lower levels between nukes.
Human Inny cleric is also a good alternative to DE, same benefits minus ultravision, but not KoS everywhere, and a few unique quests/items.

Shamans begin to shine in Kunark, and after massive platinum investment, in classic they are nothing special. Also solo is very slow and boring 1-34, and 34+ not that much better still. Now with JBB, epic and later Torpor is when they become solo gods.