Best Class/Race combo for complete EQ/MMORPG newbs

[Thulghor]

So a number of my friends are interested in trying this game out.

Some of these folks are completely new to MMORPGs in general. So I'm wondering, what's a decent race/class combo for utterly new people starting out?

I figured that good races would be easier than bad, and melee classes are generally easier to play mechanics wise, but can be largely unforgiving as time moves on. The hybrid exp penalty will probably be frustrating as well.

As far as casters go, supposedly Magician isn't that complicated. However, after that point things get fuzzy. I've been playing EQ for too long.

Any advice would be much appreciated. :-)