[tpgramlich]

Welcome! You're probably going to get a lot of opinions regarding Blue or Green, some that seem quite biased. I'll try to be as fair as possible.

I find Blue to be an easier experience for what is already a very challenging game. With the age of the server and expansions included, you will have a much easier time buying better gear for much cheaper than on Green. Many people are even happy to just donate starting items and even some money to get brand new folks going. There are also some quality of life improvements on Blue like custom UI skins being supported, a dedicated pet window (which displays pet health and command buttons), and Tab to cycle through targets.

Now, server population is skewed much more to the high end on Blue, but that doesn't mean it's impossible to find groups. You're just likely to have a harder time finding a group unless you go to specific popular leveling zones (like Unrest, Mistmoore, City of Mist, Karnor's for example). The higher population on Green, combined with a smaller world, means that you may have the opposite problem of zones being too full and contested where you end up waiting for a spot to open to get in a group.

Insummary, Blue is an arguably easier, likely more laid back, potentially less social, leveling experience. Green is an arguably more difficult, likely more competitive, potentially too social, leveling experience. Ultimately, my best suggestion may be you can start characters on both servers even and try out which one feels best to you.

For a class to start out, you've picked some good options. I don't recommend any evil character while you are just starting out and learning the game, so I would hold off on a Necro or any evil race (Dark Elf, Troll, Ogre). Magician is a good choice with strong solo ability but can be rather one-dimensional (strong pet and high damage nukes). I would ultimately recommend a Druid as a great starting character. You get a lot of great utility abilities, have good options for soloing during shorter playtimes, and you get ports. The ability to eventually jump yourself around the world close to practically wherever you want to go comes in very handy for so many reasons.

On a side note, if you do want to make a necro once you get a feel for the world, I would strongly recommend you do so on Blue, since you can make an Iksar necro. The racial regen combined with the necro health-to-mana conversion line of spells is one of the strongest race-class synergies that exist in the entire game.

Again, welcome. There is a whole lot to learn but you seem to have good instincts and you're already giving yourself a leg up in your research. Above all, the wiki will be your best friend.