There has been much lately on good parties, part of the meat and potatos of this game. The one I have hit upon seemed safe but not too exciting. I was wrong, it has become pretty dangerous at an early stage. Of course it helps to have played Wiz 8 a few times to really take advantage of your characters. My last group of 4 was good but not great. It had faerie sam, faerie nin, elf lord and gnome? bishop. Theye did alot of damage but were vulnerable so got hurt. This one has:

Human Monk, Bare Hands from early, Wrist Rocket
Hobbit Bard, Bloodlust, Heater Shield, many instruments to lev 60 music
Mook Ranger, Giant sword, Strong Bow
Human Bishop, Diamond Eyes, Thieves Shield, Wrist Rocket

Tackled many things early, ready for Rinnjyn (sp?) now at lev 16. Prob cold have done it at 14. I guess what this shows is if you want the game to flow with no deaths and little damage, you make the characters match their strengths and really build them up. I didn't think a party with no "tanks" would be this strong that early. My balance is one good spell caster and ranger in back, one monk and bard in front. Protect the bard, who then casts stuff early and afterward wreaks havoc. The monk and ranger do instakills and other decent damage. The bard does the most damage after Angel and maybe Haste. (Barlone out in 2 rounds, lev 23 snakes were no prob, marble golems are a laugh at lev 12, etc.) It makes me wonder what I could have done if more ambitious. Like Mountain Wilderness at 10. My 2 c.

I almost always enter MW for the first time around L10. Bayjin, L12 or so. Rapax complex i like to start at L13 or 14 and become L15 by the time i get to Ferro. I usually save the Sea Caves for last, portal from there to the DD Temple and finish the game around L18 with 3 or 4 chars if i haven't got too many XP. (1 or 2 chars are more like L22 or so)

Guess it depends on your play style. I once made it to Arnika at level 2 with a four-party. It was a nail-biter. And did a solo faerie ninja/bish. Also on the difficult side. Not sure if I want to do too many of those. I was comparing this party at lev 16 to my previous at lev 19 and it is much stronger. This game allows many choices, makes it great!

Yah, that's it, i believe you could start with any combination of 1-6 in the party and still make it eventually. Like you say, though, some aren't worth repeating, and there are some i wouldn't want to bother with.