There's only 4 classes that are fun in this era.

[sammoHung]

Monk - Far and above the most fun melee to play. Only melee that can effectively solo by face-tanking. Mend is OP. Sneak means you can sell to vendors you don't have faction with. Can do similar damage to rogues. Can tank almost as good as the "tank" classes. This means you can solo mobs that only the other 3 classes on this list have a shot at soloing. Epic is very easy to complete - and it's only epic that isn't a weapon. Feign death trick works wonders for getting around. (I can get down to Poop Mtn in Seb faster than rogues). Can either do a low-budget twink with SCHW and Peacebringer, or go all out with Fungi, CoF, Priceless Weps, etc. Either route puts you far out in front of other melees. And don't get me started on Holgresh Elder Beads and their effectiveness as a monk...

Necromancer - My personal choice for favorite caster, slightly edging out Enchanter. While levelling: Necro has a bunch of different ways to go about EXPing. Necro can fear kite, charm, or root rot - all very effectively. If you want to group, Necro is amazing in group with Root, Mez/stun, Twitches and HoT. All while having a pet to send in for extra melee damage. Necro rules places like Kaesora, City of Mist, Howling Stones and Chardok. But the real fun comes when you get all the clickies. Circlet of Shadow for instant invis, VP Staff for mana-free life leech, VP robe for Mana-free Dead Man Floating - but my personal favorite: the necro Epic for a mana-free Snare (and DoT). Back when I played more (and still as a favor to friends) I powerlevel almost exclusively with Necro. Either by letting them AFK while I clear the entirety of Upper and Lower frenzy in Velks using mana-free DoTs.. or actively by FDing at mob low HP (after using mana-free DoTs) and letting them finish off the mob. Plus, like a monk, Necro has a lot of cool utilities on raids.

Shaman - A class so nice, I levelled one twice. With high AC / HP and Mana, Shaman is a beast. From the get go, Drowsy is 20-25% slow for only 20 mana. Combine that with cannibalize and Bind Wound and shaman have infinite HP and Mana. Slowest to kill mobs of the classes on this list - but edges Monk out in being the most survivable. And then of course the power scaling starts, along with the other casters on this class, around level 34-39. Turgur's is crazy good. Torpor is crazy good. I have soloed Vilefang, Ayilish, Hierophant Grekal and others - without even needing to try that hard. Shaman is by far the best duo partner for any damage dealing class. Shaman pairs so excellently with any class (minus priests). The only thing that is less-than-stellar about Shaman is when in a full group, or on a raid during buff sessions. I parsed my actions on a Shaman in a full 6-person group and 75% of the actions were either casting Cannibalize or GCD. But saving the raid by slowing the dragon still feels good.

[B]Enchanter[B] - Almost didn't make it on my list, but let's face it - Charm breaks this class. Having Pacify + Mez + Slow + Charm is a game changer for any type of dungeon crawl. Clarity is great. Enchanter sucks on raids, though. Constantly fielding buff requests, or being a sieve bot are your two options. But in solo play, enchanter is in my personal top 4 - and I'm sure is many people's top class.

Honorable Mentions - Great Fun, but not as powerful
Rogue - I have 3 epic rogues on Green. I mained rogue back in the day, and I just love the class. Easiest epic by far. Hide/Sneak is great, and this is a great class for a lazy raider.
Ranger - Has all the tools. Track is fantastic fun, especially while levelling in outdoor zones. Bows are cool. Sucks that they can't tank for shit. The epic is also great on a ranger. Top tier pullers for exp groups as well, especially in places like Karnor's Castle.
Druid - The fastest toon I've ever levelled, but that was with Manastone, Fungi, Fungi Tunic and Elder Spiritist Greaves. Maybe has the best clickies of any class with Tanglewood Shield, Thorns Gloves, ES Boots and Helm, etc. Costly to make that build, though.

What are your thoughts on classes in Velious era? What's your favorite to play? The holy Quadrumvarite (Monk, Enc, Nec, Shm) is hard to beat, because I believe them all to be objectively leagues above every other class for group / exp / small op dungeon crawls. I know people love Bard - it's just not for me. I hate getting interrupted (see Channelling bug fix forum post for more of me whining about Channelling) and Bards have it bad, having to recast spells every 18s.