Nice subject
I will try to be honest in my process of character/class creation.
First my aim. I don't want to be me or rather more like me in my youth.
Problem is I can't play like I did in my youth, I am bit slower nowdays.
So my class must not depend solely on manual dexterity, Tanks and Damage dealers will not be my main characters class. Mages and clerics both tend to require more thought than constant movement. Clerics tend to be put upon and required to stick around till the group/raid disbands and I don't want to be committed to 8-10 hour sessions. other classes are usually easier replace in a group.
In vanguard the druid class appeals most.
As to Race and sex of my character.. Well they got to look good and move well. My Female char in AC2 had a nice sexy walk
. I have no hang-ups playing a female char, in fact enable others to excuse my limitations.
Don't read this wrong I am not saying Females are sub standard players rather that male players have problems cutting slack for other male players but can role play doing so for a male players female alt.
But mostly it comes down to appearance. I might go for an old human Druid or young Female Half-Elven druid.
For some reason animal characters have no appeal nor do small or giant races.
I like being good rather than evil which I suspect is another age thing.. I no longer feel the need to rebel or be bad.
When playing my character I do not want a stream of questions on my real life situation. for this reason I may well opt for a RP server (for the first time) As long as I am not forced to go all "olde worlde" call people "thee" an "thou".