Brand new player

[Tyber]

Introducing myself to the community.

I am completely new to Everquest (except for some very recent dabbling on the live server), currently waiting for a hard copy of Titanium I found on ebay.

I have been reading up on some of the classes looking for something I like but also practical for my needs as a player. For the foreseeable future I will probably be playing solo with limited time for grouping on the weekends. If anyone has played GW2 I really liked the Guardian class. From Lotro I enjoyed the Captain.

Classes I am considering for my first foray into Everquest:

Gnome Magician - I really like the idea of being able to summon items for personal and group use. Gnome ability to create items is also very interesting to me. Are these summoned/crafted items just flavor fluff or do they serve a very real practical use?

Barbarian Shaman - Seems like caster version of a paladin.

Cleric - I am a huge Warhammer and Warhammer 40k and the imagery of a cleric wading into battle just speaks to me.

Paladin - Same reasons as the Cleric.

I have read that Druids are widely regarded as very new player friendly class. I am curious about its gameplay. From what I understand this class is a shapeshifter. Maybe picky but I have never been crazy about shapeshifting. Is this a major part of Druid gameplay?

Looking forward to playing this game, especially given the unimaginative junk currently on the market today.