Buy a pet and turn on 'toggle tank' and 'toggle petattack'. Turning on the tank option will allow your pet to jump in front of you in combat to take some hits instead of you. The petattack toggle will make your pets automatically jump into combat with you.
You can order your pet to kill your target. This way, the target won't attack you but your pet instead. You will still receive experience if your pet kills the monster. Turn on 'toggle assist' if you want to assist your pet in combat. Keep assist turned off if you don't want to join in the fight.
If your class can't cast haste, it is recommended to choose a race that has haste as a racial effect. Haste gives a second attack in combat.
Use the battlespam command to turn off various messages in combat to reduce spam.