Some questions by returning player

Hey guys,

I came back to GW1, since I am on a sort of break until the GW2 HoT expansion. Besides I never completed Profecies and Nightfall. I played GW1 a while back, but couldn't come further thanks to my lack of English experience. Now I and a few friends/GW2 guildies are back, and I just want to know a few things.

1. I am trying to get the Kurzick Elite chestpiece, because I want to make my character look alot like my GW2 character. I just need 15K, what is the quickest way to farm with a single target degen hex spam necro build?

2. I found an Elite Necromancer skill tome when I was farming for The Stonereaper, I need Balthazar faction for Spiteful Spirit. What is the fastest way to get Balthazar faction? ( I thought PvP but since no one is playing pvp, it's kinda meh).

3. What are Assassin's good for? I can remember they were quite useless when I played alot of years ago. Same goes for Dervish and Paragon. I see them as a sort of clone character from Warrior and Monk. And I can only really see them on a secondary prof. I also can remember them not really much used in my pvp days years ago.

4. A guildy of mine is a mesmer player , and since I enjoy making builds , I would like to know if this is a bit viable. 1. Glyph of lesser energy, 2. Signet of Illusions. 3. Meteor Shower, 4. Maelstrom, 5. Chaos storm, 6. Signet of Clumsiness, 7. Clumsiness and 8 Wandering eye. He will wear 1 superior rune of Illusions and all other upgrades +energy(not those from ele) runes. He will have all his points in Illusion magic and Fast Casting. He will use his 5 first skills first as combo then he will use the last 3 when he has energy left. Is this build a bit viable? And is Meteor Shower noob bait?

5. Is the Phoenix ranger pet a bit good?

6. Is the Profecies story just so big or is it just me? I feel like I go to every place on this map. Deffinitly I can come to Ascalon and now I am in Magus Falls. I know you will go to the Crystal Desert too.

I hope you guys can give me a bit of insight in this game again by awnsering my questions.

Thanks and (mayble) see you ingame!

And sorry for my bad use of English, I am not a native speaker.

Edit: 1 more question. How much are those Golem tonics and summoning stones worth? I have 20 of them each, but I don't know if people want to buy them. I also don't know if there's a trading post in this game, is there?

Edit 2: I meant Kurzick elite chestpiece