| Def go with AB if you want to have a relative shot at grouping that late at night. I'm leveling a char on CB w/ my main being on AB and I haven't been able to find crap for groups almost at all from 1-49 so far on CB =P
Pick whatever race you want since you can betray evil if that is your thing. Darklight woods + Neriak quests though can net you 1-20 w/ like 20 AA in a solid day of playing if you know what you're doing and it's actually fun since you don't run all over the damn place to do everything like gfay/cl/antonica.
I have a 70 Assassin. Sucks ass to solo even at 70 unless I'm mowing down greens/blues. My SK solos really well. Warden solos so/so. My dirge solos surprisingly well w/ sta line though I finally swapped to dual wield once I got out of my 40's.
Scout class if you want to solo and have good raid utility go swash/brig for scout.
Tank class won't matter much w/ buckler you can solo well on guard/zerker though SK does solo the best imo and if you're starting fresh it's a great way to solo through some of the lowbie zones like WC and get some loot to broker for some income.
Monk/Bruiser while fun are pretty much worthless.
Casters can all solo pretty well.
Crafting sucks and I'd wait till you are 70 to start it. | 