I’m looking for a class that will do well as a solo player. With my work schedule, I can’t commit to a consistent raid schedule. So I want something that won’t have issues pugging raids. Also, my main focus is probably going to be PvP. Lots of BGs and world PvP. I want something that can do well in both of those, and can 1v1 / 1vX.
With that criteria, I was thinking mage, rogue or hunter…but I’m just not sure!
I’d say warlock is a pretty strong solo class. Very handy class for raids and lots of potential, if not top potential over mages, in pvp.
For solo play I rolled Droods and Locks.
I have a lot of Droods…
Shadow Priests melted faces. That’s what I was and it was a lot of fun (the class).
I PvP’d a little, though, and not much at all. So I can’t really comment on the PvP stuff. But the little I did, I did pretty well in.
Hunters were the solo kings. I have no idea how they were in PvP, though.
Terrible. You get a rogue or other melee class on you, and you’re a sitting duck since hunters couldn’t attack at short range. Or maybe I was just really bad at PVP, I’ll let others decide. 
He wants to be able to easily pug raids.
Are you going horde or alliance?
Pretty sure being a healer is pretty helpful. He could put time into getting money to respec, or since he’s pugging, get with a group that doesn’t care if he’s shadow.
I found my rogue shined on most quests solo. If there was a lot to fight through, sometimes I could skip it to get to the quest mob or item with stealth. But I didn’t successfully do much end game pvp because I wasn’t getting daggers because I wasn’t raiding. So, I would summarize by saying I had a ton of fun solo on the way to 60 then found I had to focus on 5 man dungeons and things like the .5 upgrade quests to find my fun after 60.
Warlock or hunter. The pets / minions help significantly with solo play… imo
There won’t be many pug raids that will take a shadow priest, I call tell you that straight out. Some guilds will, but it will be the rare pug.
He didn’t say he wanted to spend time and money having to respec, but yes, that could work. Healing priests are always wanted.
Lock in demonlagy is awsome solo hunters are fun too but hunters you got food and arrows but you can hunt for food and vendor arrows ar pretty cheap
Warlock, Hunter, or rogue. I’d say shaman too except that any raids will expect you to heal.
Btw, you can’t really pug raids except outdated content that guilds are back farming, and they’re going to reserve the best loot. Not really a problem for hunter because you’ll still get a leaf if none of their mains need one… but you can probably forget about melee weapons. Any class can go pug to get tier pieces, but behind that, the best gear is bound to be reserved.
For easy pugging, I’d say Paladin or Shaman depending on your faction. Holy Paladin is great in pvp and their buffs are always in demand in raid, while being relatively low population wise compared to other high-impact classes.
I guess regardless of faction I’d say warlock, druid, or hunter. All are very capable of solo play and in the right hands can really excel in PvP. In terms of pugging into raids, nearly any class can do that unless you’re a meme spec. That said, each of the three classes I listed have very low representation in raids which makes gearing a breeze. Chances are a guild has a few dedicated hunters they trust to pull and tranq shot.
All that said, you really can’t go wrong with a mage, unless you can’t stand killing things quickly and then having to drink.
Stick with mage. Done right, it’s a pretty solid PvP class.
I used to have a lot of fun with mine back when the ranking system was still a thing.
Edit: And yes, you can solo content and join LFR just fine. My mage used to be my main, but is now my second max level at all times. I had no trouble getting that class to 120.
Some of the advice on here is genuinely strange.
Best solo classes are probably hunter or warlock. You will be able to farm gold well, level fast and pvp well.
Hunter is strong in world pvp (if you get the jump against any class you should win) melee leeway and scatter trap sharing a DR make them a bit weaker that was expected but you will perform well. Good in bg’s thanks to viper sting and utility.
Warlock will be okay-good at PVP early game and a monster once you get some gear in the late tiers.
Take engineering if pvp is your main focus.
Both classes will be wanted for raids but there is a bit of a trade off as a solo player. There will be more warlock spots in a raid than hunter (not so much early game but from AQ onwards). This means as a warlock you will find groups easier BUT if you find a consistant raid spot as a hunter will gear much faster, as you are competing with 2-3 players rather than 4-6.
Pugs will probably take whatever is available but it will be easier as a lock.
A lot of people here mentioning shadow priest as they are great at world pvp/bg’s, good solo class but hard to find raid spots. Well the solution to that is to spec pvp shadow and then just heal raids as that spec too. Pugs will take you anyway and you can heal all content tilll about AQ40 just fine.
Honeslty a mage would also be fine, probably a bit longer to level as you wont be able to aoe grind that well. End game its a good solo class though.
Most classes will be fine but thats what i would recommend for your requirements. The main thing is to pick what you will enjoy!
Horde for sure
Care to elaborate?
Not you darling. The people claiming hunters can’t pvp or priests cant find a pug spot.