Deciding what class to play

[sliderDMgpl]

I have never really been a poster on any forums, much less a game forum but from all the reading here it seems like this community is very helpful.

I am new to DDO and have relatively little time to play games nowadays so I typically solo often.

So after spending several hours researching and reading I am trying to decide on a class that I can role to fit my needs.

My needs are soloability, raidability, (useful character in high end content) and fun.

With that background information in mind I had narrowed my class picks to these.

A 16 bard / 2 fighter / 2 rogue  bard for buffs, self healing, umd, rogue for evasion and traps, fighter for the feats to get kopesh.

An exploiter build

A pure sorcerer.

A pure offensive/healing specced favored soul.

I have 32 point build and I am VIP. I will also purchase (from DDO store) +2 tomes for all stats.

I enjoy casters but my concern is that in epic level content melee dps seems to be greater than caster due to sp, low dc, issues making a need for casters less (especially arcane as raids can always use healers).

Melee toons are very gear dependant, and I have no gear yet.

So with all that in mind what would be the best class option for me?

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

[Goldeneye]

Learning fast: you've got a pretty solid list there!

My votes:
Pure Favored Soul - healers can ALWAYS find groups. Very rarely will a raid not want another healer. Also, very self-sufficient. Leveling is easy.... run around. keep people alive - let others do the work (until levels 10+ where you get really cool offensive spells). People are always willing to take a new healer under their wings to learn, as long as you provide heals.

Pure Sorcerer - Pure sorcs require some good gear to be effective in epic. I built my fighter to specifically perform well in epic... however groups kept on telling me to get on my sorc. Sorcs are also one of the best solo classes levels 4-18.

Exploiter and Bard 16/2/2 can require a wide variety of gear and plat to equip - a great second character, however a difficult first toon.

The best new players are the ones that learn to ask lots of questions. good luck