I have a pretty hard decision to make, I'm trying to commit to one of the three classes I've listed.
Elven Elder - Bishop - Or Elemental Summoner
The reasons I have chosen these classes are simply because I want to play a support roll. It depends on a few things, mainly whether or not I'll be useful in the longrun. My first idea was to roll an SE in future hopes of running a dual box buffing setup, although I would want to be able to be of some use in end-game groups. Elven Elder would be more my playstyle I think from everything I've read, although I heard that Bishops are by far the best healer even though they lack a bit in buffs they also get the highest % ressurection. I love helping people level which I thought an EE would be the best choice because of the buffs / recharge etc. but then again a clan could use a Bishop for it's better healing capabilities.
An Elemental Summoner is another choice because I hear they're one of the most favorable of the summoners versus the hybrid nuker-summoner Necromancer class. They're far too expensive for me though. Being an ES would allow me to solo / use my support with my summons and find groups pretty well.
The simple conclusion to what I've said is which one? Which one would generally leave me with the most options and which would leave me with the strongest support for a clan or group in the longrun? I don't want to be cast aside as a useless unfavorable class, that can't level because it can't find a group. :)
Bishops are the best healer and rezzer, we talk about their skills (http://www2.elliebelly.net/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=351) against EE/SE's here. But we don't get recharge. But bishops can be recharged by an EE/SE AND we have invocation (self mana recharge). EE/SE does too but they cannot recharge themselves nor each other any more.
My main focus was not to find a solo class. I want to roll a favorable and well liked support class and if I had to I'd roll a summoner just so I wouldn't have to rely on groups so much for leveling. I'd very much prefer a strong healer / support class that would be widely accepted by most groups. Bishop or EE were my choices.
Warlocks are a popular support class starting at level 56 - they get critical buffs.
Neither bishops nor EEs are "widely accepted" by groups until a higher level. They are of course welcome in pole groups though, and there's not really a better place to be. ;p
The only support classes that will rarely have trouble finding groups are probably SwS/BD.
If possible it's best to have some kind of DD to stick your support on when groups aren't around. At least that's mainly how my SE got leveled up when people just stopped playing.
If you want a good support class that is generally accepted, EE and bishop are pretty much out of the question. People will want you for sieges and raids, but for levels 1-75+ they'll expect you to get their by some fluke of luck and not by helping you exp.
ES and warlock have the advantage of being great true soloers (i.e. no dual-box) but very situational buffers. They give pretty good buffs, but they also take the spot of a DD so not all parties will accept you.
This leaves the WC, PP and SE. The WC will be able to find parties pretty easilly since there's not many of them that are dual-boxed and they get excellent skills. SEs are about a dime a douzen as dual-boxes and chances in a 9 person party there will already be 4-5 oop SEs either leaving you not much to do (heals and maybe debuffs) or sitting in town because nobody really needs you. Prophets are rarer to find in both live and dual-box formats, but they are extremely boring to play. You buff every 20 mins and sit on your -_- until it's time to buff again. You don't have the mana pool nor skills (invoc) to use your mp for anything else.
This leaves the BDs and SdS. BDs are generally found pretty often. So often even that during sieges we have a few BDs that can't find a party because every pt already has their BD. They get excellent pt buffs that can help any party and do decent enough damage that people love playing them live. And with skills like hex and arrest, they they can be pretty nasty.
Swordsingers are the defensive version of the BD. They do much less damage and their buffs are generally focused towards the defensive, so overall people don't like playing them much. Their crit rate song alone is enough for most parties to want one, or their ww/m.def/p.def/max-hp songs for mage parties. After their 3rd class change they also get some really sweet songs that make everyone's skills more mana efficient. While in solo they're not too good, they have a good use in party and are hard to find because they've never been anywhere near becoming a FotM class. This will be the class you'll have the easiest time finding a pt with because they contribute a lot and are rarely played.
Go SE, we have good use in top end groups(pow rocks for melee groups (exp and pvp) ) we are good for top end amge groups (fog aoe cause we got recharges and emp) and for top end archer parties(again pow and recharges) we are the hybris we got the worst skills of all worlds but still some ppl love us =)