Right, after having played this spec for about an hour solo and an hour in big meta events, here are my thoughts:
Before I start voicing my feedback I want to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the spec, and it is likely that I will be maining it in EOD.
The spec doesn't feel like a thief. It feels like a glamor mesmer and a corruption necro had a baby and then gave it a batman utility belt. I don't consider this a bad thing, because mesmer, necro and thief are my three favorite classes, and I don't really feel like an elite specialization has to feel exactly like the base class. But I can imagine that loyal thief mains might not enjoy the specter.
The shroud does not feel very powerful. It feels like it's something that you sit in while your initiative recovers because it has cooldown-based attacks. It doesn't feel like a big payout shapeshift, but just kind of something that you vibe in until you can go back to spamming your scepter 3 skill.
The consume shadows trait is too strong. Far too strong. I like the design of "build up shadow power and blow it all up as a big potion", but I feel like this trait gives way too much payout to playstyles that do the opposite. I've played in two ways: Burn up all my initiative on Twilight Combo and then sit in shroud until my initiative regenerates (rinse, repeat) and the other way was just use shadow bolt and endless night to support others and just quickly toggle shroud every 6 seconds for the consume shadows heal. Both of these playstyles do not feel like they are what consume shadows wants to cater to, yet both of these playstyles were getting a 8-12k AOE heal out of it every 6-10 seconds (and in a party this would come with 5 torment stacks because of rot wallow venom).
I feel like the spec lacks combo finishers. It has very easy access to smoke and dark fields, but the only way that it can make use of them is shroud 2 and shroud 5.
I see zero use-cases for the scepter 2 skill. Both of the dual-wield skills are so incredibly good that I don't see why I would ever spend initiative on something this mediocre.
I see zero use-cases for well of tears. I know that people often want a specialization to be able to be played in both power and condition styles, but since this is a scepter spec and already neck-deep into conditions I think that it's best to commit and ditch the power well altogether.
Well of silence is niche but interesting. I would like to see a "Foes that already have all conditions will be inflicted with XYZ" on this too. Not sure what, but it feels like I should be rewarded for interrupting somebody who already has all 4 statuses.
I'm not sure how I feel about the forwards shadowstep on measured shot. I feel like teleporting into the fray is the last thing I would want to do before starting to channel a quickness beam.
The scepter stealth attack feels underwhelming. Both versions of it do. It's the type of thing where I would be happy with getting it randomly, but I would not spec for it or spend initiative on it that I could have spent on a 3 skill instead.
Personally I would make the following changes to the spec:
Well of tears gets replaced
Scepter 2 gets a rework. I feel like to even give this niche-use, it would have to be a projectile finisher and also it would have to blow up and hit multiple entities around my target. Either that or take the shadowstep idea from measured shot and work it into a new 2 skill.
Shroud 3 becomes a leap finisher, and shroud 1 gets a stealth attack version. This would let the specter make much better use of its combo fields and would also make it feel more like a thief.
Consume shadows either gets a 30 second cooldown, or the healing gained becomes a second order polynomial instead of linear (so using it on 10% shadow power makes the heal 1% effective, using it on 50% power makes it 25% effective, and at 100% power it gets full effect). If you do not rework or remove this talent before launch then it will 100% become a problem down the line.
The scepter stealth attack needs some more payout. Maybe like buffing an ally with protection and/or resistance, and upping the duration on the poison stacks.
Well of silence gets an effect that happens when the enemy already has all 4 conditions. Either some damage or maybe a blind/immobilize.
