orcishgamer: The Favored Soul is unlockable without buying it but you'd need access to a ton of packs to get the favor required (guest passes might actually be enough for half of it). They are good at soloing with some of their builds.

While what drowgirl is saying is technically true, understand that Blade Barrier isn't something you get right away and even after you soup it up it kills super slow. Advanced players do fine this way (especially since they have really good gear to hand them), I can't say I think it's the easiest thing to try and solo. Paladin is a good soloer because they deal so damned much damage to certain types of monsters (and don't listen to anyone, you want to dual wield rapiers, higher crit range favors Paladin immensely, but you may just pick up a Falchion since they are cheap on the AH and 2 hand it, cheaper since you won't need Dex anyways, Rapiers are some of the most expensive items in the game).

Respeccing is possible, so don't worry about screwing up, even with your race or class choices, you can actually reincarnate and pick something different for both if you want (though it'll cost you 2500 DDO points and you have to relevel with a 20% exp. penalty, as a bonus you get extra stat points and your character starts to tower over everyone else). There's a lesser reincarnation that does less but has less penalties that lets you redo a lot of stuff too.

I'd say solo with a Fighter or Paladin as a new player, it's not like you won't know soon enough if you hate it and can reroll. The most ridiculous dps in game right now is Half Orc Barbarian (you'll have to buy that race if you want it) with a Great Axe (I think). Half Orc gets several Str boosts and no Con penalty (you kill yourself when you're raging, don't worry you're priority one on healing after the healers themselves).

A really geared Wizard is incredibly useful and flexible. It's a hard class to level solo unless you know what you're doing. A lot of soloer Wiz characters go Warforged as they can cast Repair on themselves. You have to purchase Warforged if you want it.

Sorc is nice if they get useful spells (i.e. not just crap that goes boom). The problem is you'll never find one that has Knock ready. They can only change out spells every 3 days so they are somewhat limited. If they were just doing stuff in Undead areas they may show up without all the spells you'd expect them to have to deal with Devils or Demons. If they ever show up w/o Haste just refuse to play with them:)

Bard buffer is probably the most party friendly class with their buffs, they solo like hell though (unless they do charms and stuff, which only works in some places). They tend to do okay backup healing as well.

Drow race is super easy to unlock, don't buy it, ever. They get 32 points builds (sorta) base (which means more stats). 32 point builds are super nice when you get them. Or you can just buy it so it unlocks on all servers (when you unlock stuff, it's per server, if you buy it, you get it on all servers).

Don't underestimate the extra Feat humans get, it can be really nice. Also, Toughness rocks, almost all characters will want it. Okay, I'm rambling now, finished wrapping presents, probably gonna go play more shootemups.

CymTyr: Just an FYI I checked the points bundles, the bonus only applies to bonus points. So say you buy a points bundle of 420 points for $6.50 USD, you get an additional 20 points since the bonus points on the original bundle is only 20. It's worth the money to up your status permanently, but you won't be getting many extra points if you go with the lowest bundle.

orcishgamer: Geez, on the highest bundle you get double your points, at least. Sorry, about the misinformation I usually buy 40 bucks 2 times a year when they're on sale.