Thinking about starting to play again ^^

Hey everyone,

i found some maple stuff on YT and thought about maybe getting back a little.
Since i played in the very early versions of the game without much knowledge of anything (like before pirates were a thing), I was looking for a more oldschool version.

Now after thinking about this the most daunting decision of them all comes into play.
What class am i supposed to pick? ^^"

Would be very appereciated to get some feedback

What im looking for in that class/specifics would be:
1. range or melee doesnt matter
2. should have a somewhat smooth leveling experience since this might impact my will to continue ^^"
3. shouldnt need funding to work since im starting from 0 (if it needs funding lategame when i can farm the mesos for it myself with the character thats not a problem/ i.e. dont want to start endgame totally useless if i reach it. So i guess nightlords are a skip)
4. i dont really understand the HP stuff but i read there are some challenges for that coming, so id rather rely on that! (PS: this challenge stuff is really nice because it lowers the entry barrier for new people! )
(4.5. how long does it even take to reach the level where this matters?)
5. it would be nice if id be a "relevant" class, so if i reach some level in which teamplay is important i dont want to "leftout" because the class is considered useless or not like a super funded nightlord

Any help is greatly appericated!
Have a nice day,
Aiphaton