Here's how it works:
If you're starting from scratch, playing a warrior is gonna be really tough. It's a well-known fact that in order for warriors to really function as group tanks, you need a couple of weapons that proc something with high aggro. In truth, warrior aggro doesn't become really comfortable until you get your yaks (there's a few more options in Kunark), although you can tank reasonably with things like obsidian shards. Since anything like that (especially the yaks) will take a long time for a new player to get, expect some serious hardship if you choose to begin your journey as a warrior with no twinking. It's doable, it has been done, but it's probably the hardest choice of all.
As for warrior vs. hybrid, the knight hybrids are so much better tanks for most exp content. The ability to infallibly grab and hold aggro is infinitely more valuable than the marginally better raw survivability of a warrior, and the utility spells just add the icing on the cake. In really high-end group content, particularly in Kunark and Velious, warriors get their comeuppance as mobs begin to get pretty tough and classes get disciplines, but warriors still don't truly shine until raids. That's when it all turns upside down and hybrids lose much of their value while warriors become the star of the show.
Another factor is that hybrids can solo to varying degrees while warriors just can't. You can solo a warrior up to level 20 with decent gear and a polished granite tomahawk, but any more than that is pretty much hopeless. Shadowknights can solo decently along the entire way, and paladins are... well, they're able to kill lone blue mobs, and they have healing spells. It's not beautiful, but they're technically able to solo. Helps if it's undead. This is where the utility of spells becomes valuable - invis and feign death help immensely with the practicality soloing as a shadowknight, and heals and stuns will go a long way for paladins, especially against caster mobs. The ability to snare or root is also highly convenient and, while not as crucial here as on live due to a quirk in the code, still helps and might become more important if mob flee code gets looked at again.
Play a warrior if you want to become the focus of attention in the endgame. Tanking raid mobs is a very special experience, and even if leveling up kinda sucks, it's a comforting feeling to know that your area of prominence is in the more "important" aspect of the game (raiding) while a hybrid's is in the less important one (leveling). If you suffer challenges poorly, though, don't play a warrior until you've played an easier class long enough to get a feel for the game again and to pass some decent gear along to your alt.
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