I have not played Wizard101 in a very long time. I have noticed a lot has changed and so I wanted to make a new wizard and start fresh. I just don't know which school to pick.
My Play Style and Preferences: I will mainly be playing PVE (mostly solo), but definitely want to do some PVP as well. I want a school that i can quest fast with, except for death (since it is not a good PVP school). I have tried Ice, but it is just so slow and boring to me (Fire is kinda the same). I know Storm is a great PVE school and it's fun to play, but not sure how they are in PVP. I heard Balance can do well in both, as well as Life.
Let me know what you guys think I should pick!
P.S. I know every school has their strengths and weaknesses and there is no "best school", I'm just looking for your opinions!
Ice starts out very slow and frustrating, but by the time you hit level 40 the combination of high resist and that 40% blade start to make a huge difference. She's just so durable. My Ice wizard is the only one who has been able to solo absolutely everything in the game, including the Jabberwock (Avalon) and Belloq (Zafaria). Ice dominates in PVP.
Balance is easy to solo up through about Azteca, then it gets a bit dicey for a while. The Chimera spell doesn't work well with the basic "blade and trap" strategy and it's hard to use feints with that spell. Also, Balance bosses start spamming Spirit and Elemental shields and hugely resist Balance damage, so fighting them is incredibly ... annoying. Nested Fury fixed a lot of that trouble, so she's more or less back to soloing after level 110. But it was rough going for a while between levels 80-110. Balance dominates in PVP as well.
Fire. The last school I ever tried was Fire, and yet she is the first one I took all the way to end game again and again from Celestia onward. She's usually the first to solo through each new update. I don't think there was any area where I had trouble with her and in fact, I remember walking out of most battles with full or nearly full health each time. Fire is a powerful PVP contender in this meta.
The other easy schools for soloing are Storm and Death, but at the moment they both come in dead last in PVP. Life is easy to solo but kind of tedious due to their limited AoE options. They do moderately well in PVP currently. Same goes for Myth.
Having played every school at least once (UK and US server ) , i do have a bit of an idea on how each of them are to play. I solo PVE a lot, but i don't PVP at all. So take the PVP suggestions with a pinch of salt
Fire : Well rounded, surprisingly durable at high levels, hits hard, good shield destroyer with vast array of DoT spells. Can solo quite well, and i also hear it's good in PVP (I wouldn't know though since i don't PVP..)
Ice : The Tank. Low damage, unrivalled durability, mostly focused on slow play for both PVP and PVE.
Storm : Glass Cannon. Hardest hitting school in the game, disgustingly low health and resist. Built on aggressive play, and has a lot of dice spells such as healing current, wild bolt, and insane bolt. Can PVP well, but can sometimes struggle with solo PVE.
Life : Medic class. Lowest damage overall, widely considered to be teamplay based due to the vast array of heals. Can solo PVE, but expect to be forced to take the medic role in dungeons. Can PVP surprisingly well due to spells such as Guardian Spirit.
Death : Prime candidate for PVE solo play, being able to heal to full health effortlessly while attacking, and boasts a sizeable health pool in it's own right. Has Juju, but overall PVP options are limited.
Myth : Tactical class. Can be good at baiting in PVP due to minion selection, and spell selection isn't too bad, aside from the terrible all hit neglect beyond Earthquake (Quake at 42, then no all hit until 100. Ouch.) Also has access to spells such as Shift, which can be very troll in PVP when it works. Isn't too bad for PVE, but it's a long grind to break through the lack of all hits.
Balance : Somewhat tricky to solo due to lack of prism and blades going off on anything, but can be immensely versatile in PVP.
Alia Misthaven
) , i do have a bit of an idea on how each of them are to play. I solo PVE a lot, but i don't PVP at all. So take the PVP suggestions with a pinch of salt 
: Well rounded, surprisingly durable at high levels, hits hard, good shield destroyer with vast array of DoT spells. Can solo quite well, and i also hear it's good in PVP (I wouldn't know though since i don't PVP..)
: The Tank. Low damage, unrivalled durability, mostly focused on slow play for both PVP and PVE.
: Glass Cannon. Hardest hitting school in the game, disgustingly low health and resist. Built on aggressive play, and has a lot of dice spells such as healing current, wild bolt, and insane bolt. Can PVP well, but can sometimes struggle with solo PVE.
: Medic class. Lowest damage overall, widely considered to be teamplay based due to the vast array of heals. Can solo PVE, but expect to be forced to take the medic role in dungeons. Can PVP surprisingly well due to spells such as Guardian Spirit.
: Prime candidate for PVE solo play, being able to heal to full health effortlessly while attacking, and boasts a sizeable health pool in it's own right. Has Juju, but overall PVP options are limited.
: Tactical class. Can be good at baiting in PVP due to minion selection, and spell selection isn't too bad, aside from the terrible all hit neglect beyond Earthquake (Quake at 42, then no all hit until 100. Ouch.) Also has access to spells such as Shift, which can be very troll in PVP when it works. Isn't too bad for PVE, but it's a long grind to break through the lack of all hits.