For pure solo, that is a summoner - and while you said "non-magic," most of what a Phantom Summoner (Dark Mystic->Dark Wizard->Phantom Summoner->Spectral Master) does after level 40 is, indeed, melee if you so choose: You wear light armour and a melee weapon and get a pet to support you.
Otherwisely, just about any melee can solo in a herb field.
i'd have to say tyrant or TH, also warsmith is nice
Tyrant - the totems are nice for soloing, though they go through soulshot and heal pots like crazy
TH - nice dps with out using skills, fake death can save ya in a pinch, and lure is nice for grabbing one mob out of that catacomb room with out grabbing the whole room
Warsmith - lots of hp, can carry tons of supplies and craft soulshot on the spot, golem summon does awesome damage in pve its like having a 2nd person in party for dps and only 15% xp loss, other bonuses you can make alot of coin crafting for people or even yourself, great class if you decide you dont want to look @ town for a full week (decided to level mine one time when dusk won, while me being signed dawn, so i grabbed my supplies and stayed out of town till next quest week)
For completely no magic class I would go with a Treasure Hunter, thats a human dagger... Like the poster above me stated, you have lots of good skills to get you out of a bad situation. Mind you, you will not level as well as if you did have buffs and support.
For a pure solo type class, summoner, especially phantom summoner would be what you want to do, although this is a "mage" class. Also as someone else stated, you could go the Warsmith route with summons to help you.
My overall recommendation would be a TH, you will be good in pvp, so if someone bothers you later in game you can hold your ground. You also can get away from enemies by silent stepping threw agro mobs. You have fake death just in case something bad happens. You do have lure so you can hunt in areas that would otherwise gain you too much agro such as catacombs.
Also a note, DO NOT go destroyer or warlord if you don't like parties. It is basically impossible to pull trains without buffs and a good healer...meaning you will need to party.
You know, I knew this was coming eventually. And it is because, basically any class can solo. The best one is disputable because it all depends on what you mean by soloing. Are you going to duo box with a prophet, a shillien elder? Or solo do you mean completely by yourself without a second box?
It's true actually, Dark Avengers can solo, and very often do because it is hard for them to get parties in a world of archers and nukers. They have their trusty panther summon, which is cool btw, for extra damage. Some heal pots and greater swift attack potions along with pet soul shots can basically make up for the party you will be missing out on.
Again, I wouldn't advise a destroyer. Sure you will kill good with a two handed sword, but it is a waste if you don't want to party and get into pole arming. Also the difference between an unbuffed destroyer and a buffed one is crazy different, and like I said if you aren't going to have buffs, don't do this.
Yep forgot to mention AW, they are also good as well as the TH. You can use swift pots again, but without VR it isn't going to be as great of leveling of course... But definately can be solo played.
Archers? I duno, I would think without prophet buffs it would suck to level past the upper 50's. Could be wrong tho...
As I don't see that anyone else has said this, would you mind me asking a question? Why play an MMO, especially one that is highly community based, if you don't want to party? The problem I will see even more if you pick the correct class is gear. Without a clan, or at least a network of a few friends to pool resources, how do you plan on progressing past C grade, or even getting close to attaining A grade? Because no matter your class (except maybe a summoner) if you have crappy gear, you aren't going anywhere!
I can see if you see yourself soloing most of the time. But if you are planning on playing this game by yourself, I would actually advise you to maybe find another game, unless you plan on having your own buffer/healer whatever. You may already know this, I am just assuming you are new to L2...
To Matteh:
1) If you are a new player and considered that you don't know anybody so you will be soloing a lot, forget it. As you progress in the game you will meet new people make friends (and enemies) and later on you will be partying all the time. After 60 partying is a must. Almost all classes can solo but after a point, it becomes counter-productive (you get much more exp in small-large parties than solo). If this is the case, don't let this mislead your decisions now. Choose something you simply think is fun to play.
2) If you feel better off by yourself, then soloing ability of a char can be a consideration. Since you won't be socializing much (that mean you will not get in parties,raidparties clan, etc) a Summoner class can be a good option. They are not so gear dependant but they are expensive in crystals and shots. This of course can be mitigate by leveling speed. If for example you don't use soulshots for your summon or any crystalls for cubics, you level slower but still faster than many other chars.
Archers? I duno, I would think without prophet buffs it would suck to level past the upper 50's. Could be wrong tho...
I think you are not quite right.
My Silver Ranger has been soloing for the greatest part of his ...grinding carreer, with the exception of a few raids and occassional parties. He is 60+++ and still soloing most of the time satisfactory. The only difference between hunting on self-buffs and Prophet buffs is that when self-buffed he spends slightly more time till to kill a mob.
Hearing most people whinning all the time --whatever they level-- about how slow they lvl up, I think archers must be one of those fast leveling classes. Then again, grinding is hard and requires lot of perseverance and determination, and so it might be that most players can't cope with the "heat" quite well. I know a bunch of them who don't go hunting if they don't have a party. They log off instead.