I have played WoW in the past, but I never played it really serious, nor did I ever level a character past level 50. I decided to start playing WoW as my main game now and I was wondering what would be a good class to start with. I want it to be good both at solo and group PvE. I prefer a DPS role and I also want it to be viable in the long-term, so when I am maxed and have decent gear. I started a fire mage, but I’m doubting if this was a good choice, and want to make a change before I invest too much time in this character.
Classes are such a personal thing, you really need to choose yourself. For instance, you say you don’t like Fire mage, some people love it.
Long term viability is unknown as Shadowlands is coming before the end of the year and a lot of classes are being updated quite a bit.
You can make any class work. There’s nothing wrong with the classes, from that point of view.
Classes are more, or less, effective and easy in different types of content, and at different levels. You can’t judge, say, a class’s effectiveness in Mythic-Plus dungeons at max level from how it performs in quests at level 50 - and vice-versa.
You may hear chatter that some class isn’t “good”. What that means is that, at max level, in competitive play, it’s not among the top performers this patch. Don’t base your choice of a first class on that. It has nothing to do with levelling.
New players sometimes find gameplay difficult, and have trouble surviving comfortably. The easy and traditional answer to that problem is Beast Mastery Hunter. Your pet takes aggro for you, leaving you lots of space to attack from range. A similar dynamic helps Warlocks stay cool after they get their Voidwalker pet at level 20. But some people love having a pet; some people hate it. This is where personal choice comes in.
You have to find your class yourself. I can say that BM Hunter or Destruction Warlock take the pressure off questing, and will make levelling simple for you, but that doesn’t help if you hate being tied to a pet.
Another approach to survivability issues is to choose a class that has both a DPS and a tank spec, so that you can switch to Tank when the going gets rough. You don’t really want to tank random dungeons if this is your lifestyle, but tanks are almost unkillable in the world. Paladin, Warrior, Druid (with Guardian spec), Monk are all very viable at all levels.
Not only classes are subject to personal choice, but specs. I love Frost Mage. I can play Fire and Arcane when necessary, but I will switch back to Frost whenever I can - which is nearly always, since I don’t play at the level where a few percent output makes a big difference.
Have you watched YouTube videos of the various classes? got any impressions of what you would like to play? Ranged or melee? With or without pet?
One more thing:
REALM CHOICE! I see you have an Alliance character on Kazzak. That is not a good choice. If you are making a new character, give it every chanve to be pleasant, and successful even at max level. Choose a realm that is good for your faction. Without other considerations I recommend:
Draenor realm for a Horde character
Silvermoon realm for an Alliance character
If there is some reason you don’t want to choose those realms, or there is something specific you want from a realm, please ask again. I really feel bad when I see a new player trapped on a dead-end realm.
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Thanks for this very useful and complete response. Judging from your response, I might as well stick with the mage I started. I was “scared” that it would not be good late-game based on how it plays early on in the game, but this will probably change a lot while progressing and with new updates/patches. I’ll just stick with it for now and have some fun with it.
The character I posted from is a very old one I made once, I just picked a “full” server back then. My new character (human mage) is actually on Silvermoon. I actually wasn’t sure about this server, but thanks to your reply I am 
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Mage is a very reliable class: it has three DPS specs, and at least one is always good in any patch.
Let me give you a bit of mage advice: spend a decent amount of time playing all three specs while levelling.
Don’t just do 10 minutes and dislike it and switch back. You don’t get the idea of the spec in 10 minutes. Persevere for at least 10 levels in Arcane, and another 10 in Frost. Get familiar with the idea of each. Mage gamepley is very different in all three specs. Be ready, especially at max level, to take on any of the specs.
Fire is ALL ABOUT a) get Heating Up proc, b) Use Fire Blast to convert that to a Hot Streak c) unleash your instant Pyroblast! That’s it. That is Fire gameplay. As you level, you will add some bells and whistles, mostly about managing your cooldowns and especially making quick decisions during your Combustion window to keep your crit train rolling.
Arcane is all about managing your Arcane Charges. At four Arcane Charges, you are a mighty cannon, but it’s draining your mana hard. You judge when to release your charges with an Arcane Barrage, and when to keep going swinging that huge hammer, and hoping your battery keeps its charge. :). For questing, at low levels, Arcane often feels like superpower, because it’s stop-go fighting, and the natural break between mobs gives you vast burst, which you can invoke with Presence of Mind, Arcane Power, Charged-Up which you get as a talent at 60, and which adds up to two instant huge Arcane Blasts.
Frost … I’m tempted to go on, and on, and on about Frost. The thing that made me fall in love with Frost was the gameplay in which I could slow or root the mobs with my frost spells, and then move to stay away from them. This is called kiting, and with Shimmer to blink away from the mobs you can keep them from ever laying a finger on you!
For all three specs, keep your Barrier up at all times when anywhere near combat, and choose Mirror Image as your level 45 talent. It gives you 40 seconds of attacking mobs while they are distracted by your duplicates. Love that!
another thing to add on playing mage:
you have 3 different dps specs, so historically mages always have atleast 1 (if not 2 or all 3) good spec
Don’t forget you can use the Class trial feature to try out different characters at a high level and get an idea of how they play. This way you can find a character class that best suits your style before investing time into levelling 
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