Self-sufficient class? (mostly PvE)

Sheverad

Hello! I was wondering if anyone with great experience, mostly on the PvE side of things, could suggest a few classes that would be the most worthwhile to heavily invest in (as in learning class/major/mini skills, buying artefacts for etc.). The idea is to be able to get to Dragon, try to do tough quests with this class, fight the toughest denizens, explore the most dangerous areas of the game, have good enough personal utility I guess, not be afraid to go exploring, etc. Being able to provide support in group combat is also a big plus, but not really the main focus! I'm really not sure which class would get the most out of such a kind of investment in it, unless Dragon is the answer so anyone can get there eventually... 😅

Saonji

Jester kinda fits every single thing you wanted there. Lack of phase puts it behind Serpent on exploration, since you can't avoid hard mobs, but its mobility is ridiculously good.

Its bashing is among the best with investment, probably top 5-6.

It has amazing utility, both for yourself and for groups (disagree with Adrik, Jester is unparalleled king of group support).

And, if you ever care to dive into solo fighting Jester's one of the best there as well. Albeit takes significantly more effort to kill competent people than almost any other class in the game.

Adrik

Exploration: Serpent

Utility: Serpent/Runie (Self runes)/Jester (Tarot's a helluva drug)

Support: Jester (Tarot's a helluva drug, but Occie does it better).

Runie is really good hunting for low investment if you're 2h, while Serpent is the best with the maximum amount of investment ($2000 plus, probably).

Shecks

Just go with whatever class fits your character best. There are pros and cons, and some classes that need rebalanced for sure, but it's been announced several times that PvE is going to get balanced some time this year, and really every class can be self-sufficient as every class has access to ships, tradeskills, and utility. The only class I'd really stay away from is Pariah (not great at bashing without tons of HP and sustain arties, and has practically zero utility), and arguably DW and Psion aren't great for PvE at all just because of DPS issues (I can personally verify DW sucks hard even with L3 everything, but have only heard about Psion second-hand so don't quote me).

Sharidin

I was wondering, is Bard any good at all that? Also for Serpent, what type of attributes and non-survivability artefacts (e.g., soa, sip, hp) would it require to be effective at bashing? Don't see any caster classes up there, just rogues/knights. Kinda sad!