When I say best, I mean all around favorite, fun, effective, etc!    This is not meant to be a "my class is better than yours, etc" but only what YOU think is the best.

I will start: 

I have never had more fun, played without boredom, enjoyed more than the Dark Age of Camelot Friar class!    I am considering going back to play a NEW one just because I enjoyed it so much in the past. 

They are versatile, can solo, have self buffs, HOTs that proc from staff strikes, evade ALOT, can hit HARD, can heal others, can rez others, can go almost non-stop without having to regen, etc etc.   The only things that I would want (and would make them invincible) is a ranged, damaging attack and something to keep someone from running away (cause they always did when I began to whooop up on em)  :D 

Developers of new games and current ones-  develop a friar-type class! 

Your turn! 

Hmm, my Dirge from EQ2.

It is a gothic Bard kinda. Gives musical buffs, have attacks that are screams and others with song. Have depressing RPG effects too :)

I also like the classic ranger (with or without a pet), the Necromancer from Guildwars (that can do a lot of fun with dead bodys: if an enemy dies it  makes things a lot easier for him).

I also kinda like the witchunter from war but it was a lot funnier in the pen and paper rpg.

The magic heavy Pikeman from the Korean game Priston Tale. While most people were going Strength heavy a few Pikes and I went magic heavy and spammed skills to kingdom come. We were elites. Havent had that much fun in an mmo in a long time. Still looking for that spark to this day. A distant second would be the deathknight. Ludicrously overpowered then gimped and still OP, the DK blood spec never needs to be healed and frankly is the greatest solo class I've ever played.

The most fun class I played was the Lugian Berserker from Asherson's Call 2. The amount of damage these guys to deal, both single and AoE, was ridiculously fun

 Lugian Berserker in Action

My favorite class of any game is definately the Dragoon from FFXI.

I would give anything to have a melee class, with a pet dragon, that evolves and grows as you level in a new MMO.

Doesn't seem likely, but God I loved that class.

i always play a magician in mmos but cant tell you which one is the best to me. magicians mostly have nice skills

The monk from RO. The interesting thing about the class is that you have to level as a battle healer (which is tough, as your stats are going in places that don't help your spells at all), but as soon as you're a monk, everything dies before massive chain combo attacks with your fists. You use spirit orbs, which charge up your combos, and you have to time your combos, which makes pulling off a 12+ chain of hits very satisfying. There were no macros in the game, so your ability as a monk was completely dependent on skill.

And you could heal, buff, open portals, and walk into undead-heavy dungeons and own everything in sight. There were also different builds depending on if you wanted to do full damage or tank/off-tank.

I'm not sure about "best" class... but I'll say favorite and most enjoyable classes I've played:

Engineer (Molotov Assult + Dronetank build) - Hellgate

Evoker (Spectral Lash + Tempest spell build) - Hellgate

Marksman (Either Critical Damage tree or "Special Ammo Rounds" skills + Tactical Strikes tree) - Hellgate

APU (with hight Implant skill + High level Energy psychic spells) - Neocron

Spy (With High Construct or Blueprint skills + Hacking skill) - Neocron

Tempest of Set - AoC

Magic User - DDO

Accrecian Punisher - RF online

Accrecian Gunner - RF online

 Blue Mage - FFXI

I dont know any MMO that has a class to compare.  Fight mobs, learn their skills, make killer skill sets and pick the best support 'class' and then rape.

And you get all kinds of buffs, debuffs, demage spells, and healing ones.

Stormscreamer from Lineage 2.

Fencer UO after the removal of tank mages or atleast where you had to pick skills more for type of char. you wanted to be

I liked the Blood Mage from Vanguard a lot and I just loved my little Mage Assassin/Bladeweaver from Shadowbane.  Most clases in MMORPGs are pretty mediocre overall, drawing from a stock fantasy or science fiction inspiration and never really migrating beyond that point.

Paladin and necromancer in Diablo

Best class is DIrge from eq2.

A really good concept and the base of Medium armor, Skill as a rouge, and Spells in songs for DMG buff and Debuff is great.

But it also the worst experience I have because Trube and DIrge should have been simply a Bard class in Eq2 and the choice should been done on the fly rather then a Circle of 5 debuff ever min, do some dmg, Check for rez need and Repeat... simplicity is never fun. the base was there in group it was Great, pvp fun. Diversity It lack when it cam to raiding and you really should be abel to change a fight whit a buff or a debuff rather then just do em

Figure I also post Best class no to work Goes also to Eq2 Monk.

And Most need class to Everquest 1 Cleric... not fun but easy lol

I like the Druid class from Neverwinter Nights  ( Not an mmo but I like it =/)

I really like the Vanguard Disciple alot. Monk/healer that was great solo

EQ2 Fury is rockin as well.

Vampiir from Dark Age of Camelot, Much like a Friar they could do massive damage and could sustain themselves for a very long time. They were the only class that would gain mana from doing melee damage. which they could then use to cast powerful buffs and HoTs on themself (Which were later nerfed to uselessness). Or they could use the mana to cast uninteruptable Damaging Spells within melee range. They could climb keep walls and kill people on ramparts, they actually were the only class that couldn't be buffed by the normal buff bots as they would gain increased stats per level to compete with the buffs. They only wielded a 1 handed piercing weapon. But later on with champion levels they were capable of wielding a small shield as well. Of course Friars were capable of destroying Vampiirs but very few other classes could stand up against one.

Originally posted by streea

The monk from RO. The interesting thing about the class is that you have to level as a battle healer (which is tough, as your stats are going in places that don't help your spells at all), but as soon as you're a monk, everything dies before massive chain combo attacks with your fists. You use spirit orbs, which charge up your combos, and you have to time your combos, which makes pulling off a 12+ chain of hits very satisfying. There were no macros in the game, so your ability as a monk was completely dependent on skill.

And you could heal, buff, open portals, and walk into undead-heavy dungeons and own everything in sight. There were also different builds depending on if you wanted to do full damage or tank/off-tank.

I'd agree with this, except take it further and say the Champion class (the advanced monk class).  They could summon the 5 spirit spheres in one shot which made the "Throw Spirit Sphere" skill much more useful.  I remember PvPing on one vs other champions where you would throw up a Pneuma(nullified ranged attacks), stand in it and have spirit sphere fights with other champions.  The fun thing was that they also have a skill called snap that allows them to spend 1 spirit sphere to basically teleport(run there instantly) to anywhere on your screen.  People would snap next to the other champion, use a palm push skill that forced them back some cells, and then start the spirit sphere assault, while taking over their pneuma.  The fight was usually characterized by both players snapping all over the map while throwing up pneumas where they were headed and trying to force the other guy out of his.  It was very, very fast paced action.  It was the funnest PvP I've experienced in any game to date.  They also ruled in pve with elemental club weapons.

The High Wizard was badass too.  Most classes in RO are unique and very fun.

Wtihout a doubt my charactor from pre-NGE SWG. I got to choose from a combination of 32 different professions to create MY CHAR the way I wanted to define him, not some preconcieved notion from some dev of what I wanted to play.

I am amazed at how many people (and companies) dont realize the beauty of that system. Why are people so willing to play pre-concieved charactor types? What is the appeal of playing the FOTM until its nerfed?

EQ1 shaman loved him. and DAOC Bonedancer I admit the where pretty easy to pvp with and didn't get alot of respect but not as bad as the Vampiir in DAOC :)

I personally like it when I don't have to pick a class and get to customize the character the way I please.  So the best class would be one I get to mold.