Mechanist
Guardian
Thief
Ranger
So basically I'm newly returning to the game after ~4 years. Never did much when I did play but I do have 2 80s (Mesmer/Elementalist). I'm about to play through all the story starting from Living World S1, and I've found that I can manage mostly anything as Staff / Axe+Torch Mirage (packs with vets, champions, etc.). Literally a breeze, as everyone knows I suppose. Tempest works too and I enjoy it, but it takes much more effort and there's a real risk of dying to large groups, where Mirage just ports around until everything is dead.
But, I have this level 80 boost occupying one of my shared inventory slots, and I figure I might want to try out something new (also this single dodge in WvW thing for Mesmer is bugging me). I've been eyeing Mechanist since I started back here, but I can't imagine it's as effective as Mirage. Is it? Like would it struggle with large groups or anything? If not, are any of the other 3 professions on the list as strong (or stronger) than Mirage for open world/story soloing? I intend to really invest in whatever character I pick here and use it to get a lot done for a long while. I'm kind of at a standstill, because I don't want to start anymore progression/map completion until I solidify this choice...
Excluded Necro/Revenant/Warrior because I hate the theme of Necro, don't care too much for the theme of Rev either, and Warrior is generally uninteresting to me in all games.