You look like you'd like to play your rogue but can't find groups due to time constraints. Having said that, you want to raid later (maybe when you're no longer on 2nd shift); so maybe discarding the idea of the rogue altogether is a bit hasty. Maybe what you could consider is gearing your rogue so you can level him fast when you're back to more normal hours so you can hit the raid scene asap.
If my assumption is correct, my advice to you is to run 2 characters: the rogue when you can find a group, and a decent solo class that can make you some cash to gear your rogue. Any caster could work:
- Shaman great solo class. Don't misunderstand what people say about pre and post level 34: the pet simply makes things easier by adding some dps and opening some new play styles. By no means are things difficult before that point, just a bit slower. To be perfectly honest, you will have cani (at level 29 IIRC) which will already increase your kill speed quite a bit.
- Necro: well, necro. Great solo class, brilliant in a group if the player knows his tools. Downside is if you want to raid with him later, you may struggle: there are a lot around and a raid won't probably have many of them. They are good for twitching but AFAIK necro DoTs don't stack so the ones past the first one won't do much dps.
- Chanty: can't comment much except that I've seen some soloing with charm or their pet and they seemed to do ok. Also, you will always have someone ready to pay for clarity fom level 29 on. Raid wise, haste is a must have, slow as well but it may get resisted too much (and chantys can't sustain a beating like a shaman in case of over aggro which happens a lot when you slow), I can imagine that if they are allowed to charm, they will probably top the dps chart far ahead of anyone else.
- Druids: I know you haven't mentionned this class. However, based on the assumption I made above, druids could be a good bet as well. Their capacity to teleport from level 29 on will make you a lot of cash. The other classes will make cash by farming some items and selling them to players, the druid can do it too but also has an easy option
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] Can't really comment on them in raid but like necro, there a hundreds of them. I suppose a raid will bring them along for their buff, their off-healing capabilities and maybe aggro kite some adds.
- Wizard: like a druid less all the goodies. However, if you intend to raid, you shouldn't struggle to find a home being the only viable nuker thanks to the lure line.
That's my 2cp. All my comments on raiding are from memory (my EQ raiding days a long gone) so I welcome any comment on them. Also the population of the server, although being healthy, doesn't match the population on the Live servers during Kunark so the barriers to enter the raid scene might be easier to overcome. Hope this help.
Nagash/Petitpas