Clerics can solo quite well up to 50 or so, blowing up undead 1 at a time seems lame but it is very safe and you can do it in high ZEM dungeons.

This.

I stupidly moved my cleric from Unrest to try to group in HHK or Sol B. Terrible choice. Never group as a cleric until 50+

Dunno, duos are pretty great. Anything beyond a 2 man though is a waste of time exping (chardok ae not withstanding)

ok making a cleric - must be a lighty but not a dwarf - any ideas?

For "jump on kill some stuff and get off" I'd say you're looking at Necro ot Druid. Necros can log in, kill stuff and FD+/q at a moments notice for RL things. Druids are a good second choice as they can port all over the place, saving you valuable time spent Exping rather than teaveling.

Enchanter would be good too, but I can't afk at a moments notice like I can on my druid, or just FD and afk like Necros.

All of them are solid solo classes 1-60.

Halfling. Racial sneak / hide is insanely useful. Only downside is no robe wearing (Just in case we get an upgraded sar'velah's--if you aren't insanely dedicated to raiding though disregard this).

IF you make that Cleric and go High Elf like I did on mine, make sure you put X amount into strength. They are very weak, no pun intended, for carrying Armour, loot.

And yes they are slow going solo but nicer than sitting on you ass all day in a group. Melee is NOT their strength. But it is sort of fun beating on mobs as a Cleric. DD is their bread and butter. So there is a pretty good amount of downtime medding. But it is a alternative way to go. I just got tired of HAVING to group for 3 to 4 hours at a time or more. Not easy to just say hey I am leaving have a nice day as the main healer in a group. :D

Depends on levels.
Druids are very good after 34, but do pretty well before that with their charm spells.
Necros are really good from the start but IMO not as good as druids after 34.
Enchanters can be fast but it seems to me without sows or jboots soloing is a bit risky.
Bards I am guessing need a pretty good connection and pc.

Overall I'd go with the druid. Life and levelling is pretty easy relatively. Only hassle is finding the good quadding places without someone there already.

Bards are by far the fastest solo leveling class via AOE DOT swarm kiting.. but you will need to be on 20-30 minutes at a minimum to pull and kill a 40-60 mob swarm.

Druid? lol, maybe if you feel like repeatedly farming Books of Obulus

Shaman or Enchanter for high end stuff, Bard for leveling 1-50 (if you're not a scrub), the rest are second-rate