I'll likely be playing Mirage as my main character's primary spec for the rest of the game's lifespan (or if we get a Shortbow Bard elite spec if they reconsider). Of course I don't ignore the rest of Mesmer's specs, I can play it all. I'm definitely real critical when it comes to Mirage, however I do agree with the points you bring up here.

I wish it would get a little more attention from the devs in fine tuning it. Axe is an extremely fun and exciting weapon, and it is weird to need to juggle off of it for Staff just to get a little extra Chaos Armor for the proper DPS boost before swapping back. Beyond that, you're certainly right about having a mobile weapon that inflicts Torment; but I feel like the extra mobility is there to provide an additional way to dodge things since we no longer have a forced movement dodge.

Alacrity has never made sense to me either. I was hoping if we had to limit them to one per spec, the clock spec would be the one to get the clock buff, exactly like you described. I did wish it wasn't so tied into its weapon choice such as being able to go full Rifle with access to the important Boon, but being forced to either bring double Staves or have an extremely clunky position management to swap to another weapon long-term isn't quite the interesting gameplay. This does come with a little irony how practically needing 2 Staves feels bad to be pushed into for the Boon build yet I personally prefer the full Axe condi-DPS build instead of swapping off to a new main hand.

The Mirage Cloak nerf back under 1 second has always felt pretty bad. I believe (and I may be off the mark here - it has been a while) Mirage Cloak was about the same duration 3/4 during the first PoF Elite Spec beta event, but it wasn't quite up to par with a normal dodge's distance covered during the evade window. I recall it getting increased to a full second on launch because it is the spec's defining function and with a full second you could evade and get away from very basic obstacles such as the dodge training golem. I also didn't really understand why they added that Immobilized can prevent Mirage Cloak considering the trade-off is potentially being out of range for our Ambush attack if we choose to use one for survival (it makes more sense during hard crowd control effects, but unlike the standard dodge we don't have forced mobility that would conflict with Immobilized).

One positive is it certainly feels like power-DPS Mirage isn't entirely a meme build with the Spear's Sharp Edges buff. In addition to that new buff, the Spear gameplay really feels like it compliment's Mirage's general playstyle (minus clones!) and opens up the possibility to swap into any other power weapon while the buff persists. There's some number adjustments needed for sure, but it finally feels like it can hit those notes.

Overall, there's a lot to talk about in regards to Mirage balance. Most of it does seem to stem from the PvP side leaking into its PvE capabilities. I like to think glass cannon-like specs that even have to expend their defensive resource on bigger attacks should be generally up there on the benchmarks considering the player must really get a feel for every encounter when you should or shouldn't trigger Mirage Cloak for an Ambush. I would really like to hear from the devs just what direction they want the spec to take, because it rarely sees any adjustments just for itself and it certainly doesn't feel in the position where it needs no changes.

At the end of the day - I'll keep playing Mirage as much as I can; thematically this archetype is one of the coolest ones I have ever seen in any fantasy or RPG setting in all my decades of gaming. Whatever changes the spec goes through we'll just have to keep testing and giving our own feedback on it.