The answer to the question posed in this thread is relatively simple...
Necromancers are hands-down the most overpowered solo class in the game. I would place wizards in second place (yes, I am serious). Third place would go to druids, who are only a tiny bit behind wizards. Fourth place would go to mages.
Yes, I have played all of the above classes, at one point or another. My main... back in the old days... was a necro. My new main on P99 is likewise a necro, so I speak from experience.
What many of you are not realizing is the fact that there are a lot more things to consider when soloing than the simple DPS that you do. To be a powerful solo class, you also need to be as self-sufficient as possible. Mages fail on that point.
So far as necros go, there is essentially nothing that they can not do all by themselves... except port. They can heal themselves, buff themselves, and they have their own mana regen buffs which rival anything available from a chanter. If they get into hot water, then they can FD right there on the spot and lose aggro. If they die, then they can locate and resurrect their own corpse. If they die at the bottom of some hellish dungeon, then they can summon their own corpse without having to do a grueling CR (which is why most necros keep a stack of reagents in the bank). They have invisibility spells which work against living and undead mobs alike. They can also charm undead mobs and turn them into a pet. In a group, they can heal other players (one-shot and/or HoT pacts) and they can also donate their mana (hence the term "mana battery" for necros on raids). So far as damage goes, their total DPS (both pet and DoT's) rivals that of ANY other class (note that the term "rivals" does not mean "equals"). Their ability to snare and fear mobs, or do the reverse and aggro kite them, enables the necro to solo an uber-mob that would slaughter any normal mage. Or just about any other class, for that matter. If it doesn't summon -- and if the necro has enough mana -- then he or she can solo it. And they do.
So when I consider the question of "best solo class," I'm going to factor in ALL of those different abilities... not just the DPS of my pet. Necros can do it all, without any outside help. Mages, on the other hand, would need a slew of potions and buffs donated by other classes, before they could hope to approach all of the innate abilities of the necro class. And mages still can't heal themselves, if things get out of hand.
All things considered, a necro is the best solo class. No comparison. They were designed that way by Verant.
As for which class can level up the fastest solo..? I'll give that award to the wizzies. Between their high-speed quads and being able to port all over the known world instantly, nobody else can match their XP-per-hour. Druids would be a very close second, in that regard.
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