Returning player, starting all over, need advice

Okay, I used to play a lot of Guild Wars, I've owned the game since 2006 and I loved it. I played through all campaigns on my ranger and made 6 other characters and played through at least one campaign with each of them. I don't think there's a question whether or not I have experience. However, back in December of last year, I was hacked. All of my characters have been deleted, I assume all my money's gone (I'm just now recovering the account) along with my gear. When I got hacked and knew that my characters had been deleted I promptly stopped playing altogether. But, it's almost Guild Wars 2 time and I want to get back into things.

So here's the deal: I've not played for a year. I have no characters, no money etc. I can hold my own playing any profession in any level of difficulty in the game. My ultimate goal is to have a character to vanquish with that I can farm effectively with too. What class do I pick? In your opinion, what is the most effective at farming and general PvE? Thanks for the help.

Edit: I also have all campaigns, if that makes any difference

Assassin.

Personally, I'd advise you to just pick the class you enjoy playing the most.

If you're essentially starting over I recommend playing whatever profession you like the most. Vanquishing is a dull thing to do and you won't want to be doing it with a profession you don't like, and it's not like there are professions that can't do it. Anet PvE skill balances are of the 'just buff the weak crap until it's mindless and stupidly powerful' variety, so PvE is pretty much c-space nowadays (not to mention this consumable rubbish, but that's another issue).

Anyway, if you'd prefer going for the meta builds, go for Warrior, Assassin, Ritualist, or Necromancer. Mesmers got a buff recently but I'm not sure how much build variety they have now. Hero-wise they're only used for Panic builds. Dervishes are getting a buff, apparently. Given that 'very soon' means 1 month and 'every 2 months' means twice a year if you're lucky, I'm not sure when it's going to come. Quite possibly not until next year. Paragons and Smiting Monks are getting buffed after that, but I'm pretty sure GW2 will be out by the time they get started on Smiting (even though it's a perfectly decent attribute line...)

Well, I liked my ranger but Pugs hardly ever go out looking for rangers except in ToPK. I'm leaning towards a dervish. How good are they at farming/vqing?

They're without a doubt the weakest physical right now. Both Warriors and Assassins can use Scythes better, but as I said above, you can beat PvE with anything you want.

What about paragons or eles? For farming but also doing UW clears and the like. (I suppose that is farming)

Paragons are only used for one build: Imbagon.

Eles are ok, but the increased armor level of foes in hard mode means their damage is weak. They are mostly used for Ether Renewal, which provided literally infinite energy. Spamming monk spelling like Infuse Health and Protective Spirit on recharge and with no regard to health or energy makes for an easy experience.

Regarding farming, paragons can't do it (with possibly one or two weird builds), and Ele's are ok. Check PvX wiki for builds (I recommend checking talk pages to make sure they aren't troll builds though).

Play what you like but play a class that your pretty sure can solo or at least run a team of heroes and Henchmen anywhere in the game.
For myself I would go with Necro, Elementalist or Maybe Dervish

Pugs are a problem right now probably worse than any time before.
My reason for saying this is that Pugs used to be just hit and miss, now so many players are going 110% towards filling their HOM that efficiency is the name of the game.

If your totally up to date on the latest builds and equipment you can get on fine.
Otherwise your a noob and they have no time for you, ok some areas are ok to pug but many are full of elitist jerks.
This behaviour isn't limited to Hard mode or elite areas though it is more prevalent there.

You cannot blame them too much as its their playing time an inexperienced team player is taking up while they teach them the method of play they are currently using and what consumables you need to take.

Well I'll accept noobiness for the time that I'm getting whatever new character up to speed. And it's not like it'll take long for me to figure out new builds etc.

Don't worry. If you have played it before you will get back into it in a jiffy. Like what all others said, best to go with something you enjoy playing. You can vanquish with or without human aid anyway.

Probably Ritualist is what you're looking for at this point in time, but there's no guarantee the meta won't evolve away from that.

Just play what you like. Especially with the upcoming 7 hero update, you can pretty much do all zones with every class. You'd better make all those vanquishes more enjoyable by playing the class you like most, instead of taking the most efficient class and making it a dull grind. Ultimately, this game is about fun. Some people tend to forget that

I agree with most of the answers,

Assassins and Ritualists are IMO the 2 best farming classes,

But when it comes down to it if your not picky any class can and has a farm and since farming is boring go with w/e class you like to play the most.

Strictly in terms of effectiveness, Dervish and Paragon are terrible. Rangers are close to the bottom. Mesmer, Ele, and Monk have some very potent abilities, if limited in what they can do. Assassins can use any martial weapon well and can farm well, Warriors are extremely sturdy and potent, Necros can run anything, and Rits have decent variety coupled with extremely powerful farming abilities.

Play what you like, though, because by the time you finish that list could be upside-down, and anyway, you don't want to despise what you're playing even if it's the most popular or "effective" class.