Specter Feedback Thread

[dippy.8961]

I tend to hang out in shroud while my utility skills cool-down so that I have a little AOE on my side, but I can't see when they're ready to go.  If you could make it so we can still see our utility skills in shroud, that would be great.  Just have them greyed out, so we can't use them, but we'd be able to see when they come off cooldown so we can drop out of shroud and maintain our rotation. 

Also - the enemy/ally targeting is all around frustrating and clunky. Can we just drop the ally targeting?  Since when was helping a single ally in GW2 a thing, or even beneficial?  My suggestion is to just remove our ability to target select allies with our skills, and have the skill affect nearby allies to your target; they're likely the ones that need the assist anyway.

I don't know - I'm old, with old reflexes and limited buttons.  It played pretty well with just a friend or two around, I mostly cDPS'd, and I'd pop shroud on my friend when we were getting a little beat up.  Felt pretty good, not Daredevil good, but good.  But when I'm in a meta and my attack skills start targeting allies because they're in between me and the boss, it's really, really annoying.

Edit to add: The channel time of Mind Shock is ridiculous; by the time it goes off, there's only 1 or 2 enemies left in it.  Can you make that a little faster as to be actually useful?

Edited March 7, 2022 by dippy.8961

[ArjukKagrim.6049]

Spectre is fun to play, but far too strong in the current iteration:

Full ranged, very sustainable, in-built support and over 44k dps (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmlLIWDW4OA) reminds of the most broken days of firebrand.

 

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

1 hour ago, ArjukKagrim.6049 said:

Spectre is fun to play, but far too strong in the current iteration:

Full ranged, very sustainable, in-built support and over 44k dps (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmlLIWDW4OA) reminds of the most broken days of firebrand.

 

sounds like youre upset, want some tea?

[Nimbus Nomad.1237]

On 3/5/2022 at 12:25 AM, Corvus.6172 said:

One more Point: Some wells have an unreasonable high cast time and aftercast. It feels really awkward hitting people mid fight with your alacrity and support on moving bosses. It just dosen't fit the fast and overall really responsive thief gameplay.

I think that was intentional because rune of the chronomancer exists. It's probably also why the scepter animations are hella slow too. I think they should change wells to a different ability type so they can buff pretty much all of spectre's animation speeds. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by Nimbus Nomad.1237

[Nimbus Nomad.1237]

On 12/4/2021 at 10:40 PM, Scorcher.6428 said:

 As of now, you don't want to stay in shroud because you no longer will apply RWV. There is no big damage skill you'll want to use that gives an advantage over normal sceptre skills nor does it grant much boon support that you don't otherwise provide with normal sceptre skills. Spamming the shroud AA and using skill 2 off CD until sufficient initiative is restored is a bit dull for a unique class mechanic. Making it more dynamic to fit the boon/heal support + damage hybrid thief identity would be a 
lot more positive for Specter.

The huge heal from Consume Shadows trait is really cool, nerf understandable/reasonable, but the changes did nothing to make shroud have any strong identity/use outside of that heal.
The reason partly being because shroud skills are underwhelming or situational especially compared to skills outside of shroud. And the solution is not to make sceptre skills worse, that would be really sad for the class.

I don't know where you are getting the idea that shroud skills are bad, but they are actually all really good. Even just auto attacking an enemy will heal your binded ally for more than you realise. The only thing that i find underwhelming about shroud is the range on 4.  Maybe an increase in condi damage would be okay too. 

[kash.9213]

41 minutes ago, Nimbus Nomad.1237 said:

I don't know where you are getting the idea that shroud skills are bad, but they are actually all really good. Even just auto attacking an enemy will heal your binded ally for more than you realise. The only thing that i find underwhelming about shroud is the range on 4.  Maybe an increase in condi damage would be okay too. 

I feel forced to take Consuming Shadows but I really enjoy going in and out of Shroud a lot when I don't need to use CS. I love all of the Shroud skills, especially with modifiers from Interrupts except Mind Shock seems to pop off right in time to be just too late.

I like the way Shroud skills move, Dawn's Repose is at the top of my list of favorite skills. They all move, pivot, and orient fluidly in action cam which is a lot of fun to toggle (has an arcade fighter vibe) although you can't birds eye view directly down to put a circle at your own feet so it can be tricky to circle strafe.

I agree with maybe a little damage increase on Eternal Night. I actually like the hand to hand combat look to Shroud skills and I like it's cleave. 

Edited March 9, 2022 by kash.9213

[Nimbus Nomad.1237]

36 minutes ago, kash.9213 said:

I feel forced to take Consuming Shadows but I really enjoy going in and out of Shroud a lot when I don't need to use CS. I love all of the Shroud skills, especially with modifiers from Interrupts except Mind Shock seems to pop off right in time to be just too late.

I like the way Shroud skills move, Dawn's Repose is at the top of my list of favorite skills. They all move, pivot, and orient fluidly in action cam which is a lot of fun to toggle (has an arcade fighter vibe) although you can't birds eye view directly down to put a circle at your own feet so it can be tricky to circle strafe.

I agree with maybe a little damage increase on Eternal Night. I actually like the hand to hand combat look to Shroud skills and I like it's cleave. 

You are absolutely correct about how comsume shadows pigeon holds you into a very specific playstyle. Using CS breaks the fluidity of shadowform and its intended use of weaving in and out of it. Consume shadows is great for people who don't want to weave in and out though. 

What anet should do is completely reword shallow grave to provide more playstyle options for spectre. 

[Neage.3579]

I am enjoying the specter build for the most part. Been bouncing between the Alac Condi build and pure condi for damage. Getting high single target numbers on bosses. easy enough to maintain perm alac.. only real gripe is that we do basically nothing against groups of mobs. 1 Well can do a little bit of aoe but everything is heavily focused on single target stuff.. Which i know that is a design choice for Specter but I pretty much feel useless if there is more than 1 creature to deal with. Having a way to spread the condition love would be nice kind of like epidemic. 

[kash.9213]

3 hours ago, Neage.3579 said:

I am enjoying the specter build for the most part. Been bouncing between the Alac Condi build and pure condi for damage. Getting high single target numbers on bosses. easy enough to maintain perm alac.. only real gripe is that we do basically nothing against groups of mobs. 1 Well can do a little bit of aoe but everything is heavily focused on single target stuff.. Which i know that is a design choice for Specter but I pretty much feel useless if there is more than 1 creature to deal with. Having a way to spread the condition love would be nice kind of like epidemic. 

All of Shroud hits groups. 

If you're in a group you can trait Consume Shadows and Shadestep to keep feeding Rot Wallow Venom.

You can circle strafe a group until they bunch up like the last slice of pie and target the furthest with Endless Night and pull you're end side to side a bit so it's beam gets a nice spread. 

 

[Zacchary.6183]

On 3/9/2022 at 6:04 PM, Nimbus Nomad.1237 said:

Using CS breaks the fluidity of shadowform and its intended use of weaving in and out of it. Consume shadows is great for people who don't want to weave in and out though. 

I actually use consume shadows as sort of an HP reset when I am not seriously healing a group. I usually pop into shroud at around 50% HP and by the time I cycle through all of my skills, I have enough stacks that I should get full health. If siphon is off CD, I hit that before I drop shroud.

[Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497]

Specter still isn't very fun to play for me. It holds no synergy with other weapons. You pretty much have to go full sinister if you want to do any meaningful damage... as taking ritualist causes you to struggle badly in the time attack missions. Scepter Pistol is it's only cleaving option, but the forced movement makes it pretty impractical. The 2 skill is still relatively useless for the initiative cost, low damage, and might gen. Scepter/Dagger 3 skill is probably the most reliable item in the kit... but it gets intercepted by pretty much everything but your intended target. So giving it pierce would be nice...

[Kydar Schattendolch.6879]

Can we pls have the cast time of "Well of Sorrow" reduced to 1/2 s? It Feels so slow.

And, when I have startet...please remove this "target get torment, when it have all other conditions" kitten.

There are 2 possibilities i think:

 

Cast every second the actual amount of Conditions to foes inside the area (1x Poison, 2x bleed, 2x torment) or make it like Plague from necro, hitting with:

1st pulse: poison

2nd pulse: poison + bleed

3rd to 5th pulse: poison + bleed + torment

 

or something else. This would be so great. Thx 😃

 

[FreshF.5793]

Here are some points I hope the developers consider to change/improve:

1. Make the Shroud more impactful. Damage-wise and Support-Wise. The Damage does not feel strong at all. Maybe you could make it more rewarding using the shroud instead of waiting 5 secs and using Consume Shadows and spamming 3 Scept/Dagger again. Enemies should be feared of Shadow-Shroud instead of waiting until the next burst from weapon skills comes:
   1. Haunt Shot:
      Give Might to the entire group instead of 1 ally. Since The generation of might for my group is capped at 3 Stacks with Thrill of the Crime, give the Specter other options to stack might for the group. Haunt Shot could be one of them. Also the condi-dmg is pretty low right now.
   2. Grasping Shadows:
      The only Condi-Cleanse-skill you gave the specter which cleanses only 1 Condition. Change the Condi-Cleanse to 5 targets instead of 1 and increase the amount of condis removed so it can compete with skills e.g. from the firebrand (Mantra of Lore or Chapter 2: Radiant Recovery). Firebrand skills cleanse 2 or 3 condis per use and have multiple charges. So why not make the condi-cleanse on the shroud of specter strong as well, since you have limited time to use it. The damage of this skill is not impactful as well right.
      I would suggest increasing the radius of the field, since I found myself in many situations where I put the field off target. Also increase the duration and the cooldown.
      
      Alternatively besides increasing the radius I thought about a game-mechanic like the revenant has one:
      Adjust the skill equal to "Project Tranquility" which is a field that is permanently active, but can be moved when using the skill. Change it to a pulsing field, that cleanses condis every second, and puts damage on enemies every second. Since you dont have unlimited time in Shadow-Shroud this is something special, which makes staying in Shadow-Shroud more appealing.
       
   3. Dawn's Response:
      Inflicting Fear fits the Style of Shadow Shroud pretty well. Though i would suggest here to give 5 Allies a Minimum-Barrier of 1605 instead of 1 Ally. Also the ranges of it could be a little higher (600 leap, 240 barrier).
       
   4. Eternal Night:
      It has a surprisingly high power-dmg but and good condi-dmg (4 Stacks of Poison), which is only useful, when you are playing the deadly-arts traitline. From a support-perspective there is nothing besides a heal for 1 group-mate (change it to 4 allies). Please consider adding some supportive boons to it. Maybe quickness would fit it pretty well, as it looks like a very aggressive skill. But i would actually suggest stronger defensive boons like protection and resolution, or even aegis to the teammates.
   5. Mind Shock:
      A mediocre AoE stun which gives stability for 1 groupmate. I would consider changing the the stability to 5 Targets. What i really do not like about this AoE skill, is the yellow field below me. I have no idea how long it takes to be activated since it is not mentioned in the skill-tooltip. It feels like 3-4 seconds which is way too long. Reduce the activation time please. Also the stability-base-duration should be at least 5 seconds. Since the skill takes so long to activate it is very hard e.g. in pve-boss encounters to time the stability to the correct time (remember you are also time-capped due to being in shadow-shroud). The Duration-Increase-Per-Target is also very strange because if there are more enemies who can cc you, you need more stability instead of a longer duration. I would rather suggest giving the skill 3 base stability for 5 seconds + extra Stability per target struck. Since it is hard to land because of the activation time, it should be worth it.
       
2. Scepter-skills from the specter. Still funny. So first of all. I like the animations from skill 1 and 3. Graphic and Sound-Design-wise they are awesome. But gameplay-design-wise I there are downsides I would like to see changed:
   1. Shadow-Bolt:
      I can not say they do much damage, but that is ok. They are auto-attacks. They should do less damage then e.g. dagger or a staff with auto-attacks, since it they are melee. Giving barrier to 1 player is also okay, though the targeting in strike/raid-content really sucks: → *A pretty important QoL-Update would be adding health-bars above the players heads. Give it a toggle-option in settings and everybody is happy. Many other MMOs got it too. For Single-Target Support this is in my eyes essential!* 
   2. Shadow Sap:
      This skill does not deal damage, neither does it support your group. This skill needs to be changed entirely in my opinion.
      
      Proposals:
      Change Skill 2 to a ground-targeted AoE, which gives 5 might to all allies in the radius (300 radius should be enough) + Barrier. Since you would have to use all of your 12 initiative to give only 20 might to your group, i would upper the duration of might or give even more stacks of might then just 5. We do not want to spam 2, since it should be fun, shouldn't it? 
      When we talk about the condi-side of this skill, I would add at least vulnerability to it, since the specter it self does not bring any vulnerability-skills.
      To make this skill also interesting for DPS-builds I would add a damaging condition like Bleeding (since there is no bleeding-condis at all, though we have a super new trait now for this) and burning or torment.
      The reason why adding burning is a proposal of the skill-design. Use the existing Projectile animation but make it explode on the ground, leaving a dark-purple fire-field with taller dark flames at the edges of the radius. As a sample I imagine it like the flames from the amaterasu in the anime naruto. Here is a picture of the flames (https://naruto.fandom.com/wiki/Amaterasu).
      Besides looking like a fire-field, the skill should be a Fire-field and a Blast-Finisher (not the first skill that has to combo-uses, referring to "Black Powder"). This would help generating additional might, while also showing the people how to do some easy combos.
   3. Twilight-Combo:
      The main dmg-skill which is spammed by every dps-player until there is no initiative left. The graphic-design is very nice. The damage-side is good as well. Boosting 1 teammate with barrier is also okay. But what I really do not understand is giving 5 secs of Swiftness to 1 ally. Especially since every build has to use the Trickery Traitline because of iniative. Thrill of Crime gives swiftness for 5 ppl. That is enough. 
      The animation looks like it should be accelerating your group. Change it, so the projectile accelerates 4 allies that are near to the user and near to the impact. Give them either superspeed or quickness. Swiftness is not useful at all here. 
   4. Measured Shot:
      It has low power dmg and immobilizes. That is ok. What should be changed is the travel-distance to heal allies. The travel-distance to allies is 300. Compared to a staff 2 from guardian which has 1.200 it is way to low. A guardian can stand at his position and heal without any risks. If a specter ports to a location to support an ally it is higher risk (maybe the ally is standing in dmg-field or whatever). And if the specter is too far away, he uses the initiative but without healing someone, cause the ally is still to far away. My proposal would be increasing the travel-distance at least also to 900 when used on an ally, which is still less then the staff 2.
      Another suggestion is to changing it to a pulsing heal-field, when using it on allies. The burst-healing might be okay for specter, but there is no sustained healing. Leaving a waterfield-combo when porting to an ally would be very useful and help with the sustained healing.
   5. Endless Night:
      Speaking of sustained healing. Currently the only skill, that gives sustained healing to only 1 ally is Endless Night. Channelling the skill for 2.5 seconds gives 5 seconds of regeneration for 1 ally. In its current state Endless Night is useless. Same goes for the quickness part. About 3 seconds of quickness with full boon-duration for a cast-time of 2,5 seconds for only 1 ally is not useful for a support class, since you want to other stuff too, right?
      So what should be changed. Give regeneration and quickness around the target and around the user (e.g. like scourge) in a radius of 300. Alternatively you just give the caster+allies regeneration, but while targeting an enemy, since other support classes can heal+attack the enemy.
      They are 2 options:
      1. Targeting an ally should be more impactful, because the specter looses dps when targeting an ally with his skills (Regeneration and Quickness). 
      2. Targeting an enemy gives a little dps but also Regeneration to allies even when I do not target them directly.
         
         Besides the Support-Side the Damage of Endless Night needs to be increased by a lot. Increase the Tormet-Duration. Add bleeding-damage so dps-builds see a use in "Deadly Ambush" from Trickery.
          
3. Combo-Finisher? In the new Expansion EoD we were introduced to Combo-Finishers. It was required to progress. But when I started EoD I was surprised there were no finisher for the Scepter-Skills. Here my suggestions to Scepter-Skills:
   1.  Shadow-Bolt-Chain: Projectile Finisher (maybe 20% like Shortbow for example)
   2. Shadow Sap: Fire-Field, Blast-Finisher
   3. Twilight Combo: Whirl-Finisher
   4. Measured Shot: Water-Field at the ally who the caster teleported to, Dark-Field left at position where you teleported away  from, when enemey targeted
   5. Endless Night: Projectile-Finisher or nothing
       
4. Utility skills. Wells. Graphic design is nice. But the cast-time of some of them is too long. Also I find my self not being able to use them, when I am targeting a boss. Maybe because shadowstepping to that location is not possible. What's totally missing is a stunbreak. Here a my suggestions:
   1. Well of Gloom:
      This skill has good healing. What should be deleted is the Cripple. When I use a heal-skill I want to stealth and get out of fight (at least in open world). Pulsing Cripple and Targets does not help here. 
      Addionally I would either give this skill a group condi-cleanse (1 condi) or area-stealth so it can benefit from the trait "Panakus Ambition". The current group-stealth utility-options are Shadow Refuge with 60 second cooldown or blinding powder with 40 seconds.
   2. Well of Bounty:
      A nice idea which helps the group filling gaps in boon-uptime for some boons.
      Though I would change the order a little. Resistance is most of the time not needed in PvE and could be lower priority. 
   3. Well of Silence:
      A pulsing CC skill which is not really needed because of the cc the Ultimates have. This woud be the skill i would give a stun-break to. But also it would need rework, since it would make more sense puting the aoe-field on the location you left with a shadowstep, then the target location. Also condi-cleanse or barrier together with a stunbreak would be nice.
   4. Well of Sorrow:
      This skill could use a little more condi-damage. Also it does not apply burning, even though the tooltips says "inflicts foes with any damaging condition they don't already have".
   5. Well of Tears:
      A power-version of Well of Sorrow. Have not used it a single time. Might be more useful if you play alac-support with harrier stats, since you have more power.
   6. Shadowfall (Elite): 
      I do not see any use for this skill, besides pulling mobs together or giving extra alac/heal. Since the cooldown with 75 seconds is way too high and does not provide more cc than basilisk venom (40 seconds cooldown) I would consider a rework. 
      Since this should be a support spec, it should get a support elite. 
      Proposals/Ideas:
      - all allies in the area siphoned for 10 seconds and get the heal from shroud-skills (maybe 60 seconds cooldown)
      - pulsing healing/ barrier to your group (+ stealth for 20 seconds)
      - a unique boon, that increases healing or condition-damage for group, or reduces incoming damage
      - the next 5 seconds you gain increased shadow-force or a passive that increases shadow-force gain, or refill shadow force when skill is used
      - regain initiative
      
      There are many options.
       
5. Siphon (Steal-Ability):
   A great idea. Brings some damage (though torment should be added), soft-cc and and 3x might, fury, swiftness (with Thrill of crime). Downside on this is that it currently only works, when you siphon on a foe. You do NOT give your group boons when you siphon on an ally. This needs to be changed very soon, since this should be a support-specialization.
    
6. Traitline of the Specter. Next to the traitline of the specter, the other traitlines need to be adjusted as well. Especially Acrobatics (which gives +240 Concentration, but only self-sufficient traits) and Shadow-Arts (Shadow-Saviour [360 Range] from SA and Traversing Dusk [240 Range] from Specter both give healing when shadow-stepping. Same effect but different range. Also only 3/12 traits in this traitline are helping the group. Merciful Ambush. Shadow-Saviour. Meld with Shadows). But lets focus on the specter traitline here:
   1. Specter (minor):
      You don't get too much Shadow-Force from spending initiative (1%). Additionally it is lowered by 3 initiative. Having only 9 initiative lets you use 3 skills and your initiative is gone. This leads to being forced to take the Trickery traitline → lower variety because you can either take acrobatics for more boon-duration or shadow-arts for more stealth. Not both.
      Proposal:
      Remove the decrease of initiative.
   2. Second Opinion (major):
      I used this rarely. This trait bring only +120 healing power, which already has a bad scaling (compared to Firebrand with "Imbued haste" giving +250 Condi, +250 Vitality, +250 Healing Power). Additionally you get 7% of you Condition Damage converted to healing power. Which would force you to take a plague-doctor, since there is no Prefix available that brings Condition Damage, Healing Power, Boon Duration. This includes, that when you want to play a support-build you have to bring condition damage? Seems contradictory to me. 
      Unless you execute some of the changes of the weapon-skills I mentioned before more healing power will not be useful. 
      Compared to Consume Shadows it is underperforming, whereas my suggestion would be changing it to a trait, that brings damage to the table, adds more initiative or more shadow-force.
      Or make this a trait, so you can siphon more then one ally (2 charges of siphon) at the same time.
   3. Shallow Grave (major):
      Did not use this trait. It would be useful, when you would change the elite in a manner, that you can tether 5 allies instead of 1 for a short duration.
   4. Consume Shadows (major):
      Very nice heal+barrier trait. Since the current Shadow Shroud is not strong everybody picks it for some extra healing and barrier. When the shroud-skills get buffed, this might not be that interesting anymore. Also it takes quite a bit to get fully shadow force why I don't think it is overperforming right now. You also can not use it instantly, which requires you to think some steps ahead. Good trait.
   5. Dark Sentry (minor):
      Since the venom got nerved and you dont have many skills to apply barrier to a group right now, it is a good trait. Though I would like to see it profiting from the Shadow Arts Trait "Leeching Venoms" to get lifesteal for your allies.
      20% Heal increase is good.
   6. Larcenous Tormet:
      A DPS-Trait. From 20% → 10% torment-damage decreased. Quite a lot. 15% would have been fine, since thief has low hitpoints (higher risk, higher reward). Alternatively add a "Inflict Torment when Crit" section to this. Making the autoattack stronger as a compensation does not feel like more fun in my opinion. 
   7. Amplified Siphoning:
      Besides increasing the barrier on siphoning an ally it should heal at first and barrier when the ally has 100% hp. Giving Specter 2 charges of siphon would also fit here pretty well. The increase shadow-force-gain is not that exciting since it only works on foes and you either want to play DPS (Larcenous Torment) or Support (Traversing Dusk). 
   8. Traversing Dusk:
      Heal on Shadowstep + Alacrity on Wells. What I do not like about this trait is
      1. that Alacrity does currently NOT increase Initiative-Generation. Please connect initiative to alacrity. This would mean the world the world to me.
      2. the instant Alacrity. If allies are outside of the well and step inside, they do not get Alacrity. Make it to pulsing Alacrity instead. 
   9. Panaku's Ambition:
      Cool Trait. Maybe you could add lifesteal to the Rot Vallow Venom in here.
   10. Strentgh of Shadows:
       Nice trait.
   11. Hungering Darkness:
       The Condition-Transfer is currently only useful for 1 ally. Change it to maximum 4 allies with a radius of 360. Would be way more useful then and actually be taken over "Shadestep".
   12. Shadestep:
       So much fun. I love helping people. 33% revive-potential is nice. Though I do not understand why the caster does not get barrier when targeting an ally. Sharing barrier is also nice, though right now you don't get a lot of it. Mostly it is around 500-1000 Barrier per ally. 

I hope this finds its way to the developers of the game so they at least read it and maybe consider some of these changes/ideas.

These proposals are from a thief-main with 1.700h thief-playtime. Not much but also not few. If you have questions just contact me.

 

Have a good day. 

 

Sincerely yours, 

Robin Grooth
(ingame name)

[lzboon.1809]

Traversing Dusk

Heal allies in the area around you when you shadowstep. Gain shadow force for each ally in the radius. Wells grant alacrity on their initial impact.

 

hmmm shortbow 5 is a shadowstep .. why isn't it working with the trait?

[FreshF.5793]

5 hours ago, lzboon.1809 said:

Traversing Dusk

Heal allies in the area around you when you shadowstep. Gain shadow force for each ally in the radius. Wells grant alacrity on their initial impact.

 

hmmm shortbow 5 is a shadowstep .. why isn't it working with the trait?

True. And why does it have only 240 radius while the Shadow Arts Trait "Shadow Savior" has 360 which is working exactly the same?

 

They buffed mechanist support traits to 360 Radius but forgot specter.

[Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497]

  

10 hours ago, FreshF.5793 said:

1. Scepter-skills from the specter. Still funny. So first of all. I like the animations from skill 1 and 3. Graphic and Sound-Design-wise they are awesome. But gameplay-design-wise I there are downsides I would like to see changed:
   1. Shadow-Bolt:
      I can not say they do much damage, but that is ok. They are auto-attacks. They should do less damage then e.g. dagger or a staff with auto-attacks, since it they are melee. Giving barrier to 1 player is also okay, though the targeting in strike/raid-content really sucks: → *A pretty important QoL-Update would be adding health-bars above the players heads. Give it a toggle-option in settings and everybody is happy. Many other MMOs got it too. For Single-Target Support this is in my eyes essential!* 

If they refuse to get rid of the single target nature of this build. Then I can agree that anti-frustration measures needs to be added.

 

Though rather than just making it health bars. Add in some additional options that allows the player to fine-grain control these elements. For example... the easiest way the thief can target a player is to manually click on their party icon. Which is fine and dandy... unless the player is on high resolutions then it's a large travel distance. I'm playing on Super Ultra Wide resolutions, so the party icons are almost an entire foot and a half away from the center of my screen.

Instead the player should be given the option to have icons appear in certain circumstances over the other players heads. Clicking those icons takes priority over the other clickable of combat, letting the thief more easily select someone.

These conditions should be something the player can set. For example, below a certain threshold of health. These are party members. Or they are dying.

I still would rather them remove the need to singularly target someone, as unless that functionality is insanely powerful, it will not compete with other specs who can do more with less effort.

Edited March 17, 2022 by Leo Schrodingers Cat.2497

[Kantharr.2308]

Playing as an Alac Specter has been a lot of fun (especially in Raids) but there's one glaring issue that I found that can cause a wipe for the squad: The wells covers the oil mechanic indicator on Deimos. When this happened to my group I immediately knew it was my fault and was so frustrated about it that I had to ask someone else to play Alac. I know that I can adjust my rotation to wait till after oil is placed to put down my wells but it's still ridiculous that the wells made it hard to see the oil mechanic appear.

[ZeroTheRuler.7415]

Sigh the so called "fixes" for healing downed players with consume shadows makes me a little disappointed. Granted it was super strong. People are calling specter a meme support build now sigh.

Edited March 17, 2022 by ZeroTheRuler.7415

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

1 hour ago, ZeroTheRuler.7415 said:

Sigh the so called "fixes" for healing downed players with consume shadows makes me a little disappointed. Granted it was super strong. People are calling specter a meme support build now sigh.

work together with me and the guild and well shut em all up... meme comp = cheese comp. youll see buddy

[ZeroTheRuler.7415]

4 minutes ago, Lithril Ashwalker.6230 said:

work together with me and the guild and well shut em all up... meme comp = cheese comp. youll see buddy

That's not what I was getting at. I am a little disappointed that a promising "support spec" would be sidelined as a meme build. This has happened time and time again to thieves.

[Zenith.7301]

Spec seriously lacks aoe cleave and too much of its condi is tied behind the venom to ramp up.

 

Spec feels really bad in open world if you're not running it support.

 

Try to shift condi application around, please.

 

Also, the sound effects are awful.

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

Anet has a month to re-evaluate how they want to allow specter to be effective in raid groups and such. Right now all weaponsets suck and are clunky with specter except sc/d for power or weird condi or sc/p. 

Other especs can effectively use other weapons but specter is pidgeonholed into this nightmare trait system including reduced initiative. Majority of traits wont even work for steal mechanics when siphoning an ally! 2 traits are literally the same yet have a different heal value and different radius if effect. Not to mention the bugs  betas feedback for specter goes unread (they do NOT care)

 

1 month to fix this crap and upgrade it without nerfs or im self sacrificing my account and demanding full refund for any purchase i have ever made

Edited March 18, 2022 by Lithril Ashwalker.6230

[lzboon.1809]

totally agree ... they just ignore all former weapons and other utilities to work with this new elite specs .. 

this is incomplete work .. totally 

all those shadow steps pls look at it .. holy machy !!! u guys seriously??? we purchased an unfinished work?

Edited March 22, 2022 by lzboon.1809

[CrazyM.1852]

Probably not going to matter, but will share my opinion, and changes i would love to see :)

After playing specter, i find it a good concept, but feels a bit clunky to play. The animations for you skills in my opinion are a bit slow so it makes the gameplay less fluid. Scepter skill 2 seems useless, especially since as a Specter you have lower initiative pool, and you cant waste it, so all you can do is spam 1 and use 3 when you have initiative, and you don't have initiative to spent on anything else (am not saying nerf scepter 3, just to be clear). On specs like s/d or d/p you use skills depending on the situation, and every skill has its use, as on scepter, 1 is a spam, 1 from stealth is more 1 spam, and 2 is worse 3. You can use scepter 2 for like a block/backroll/evade mechanic for example (like Mesmer sword 4). The shadow shroud seems a bit underwhelming in damage,, compared to Reaper or Harbinger shroud.  Also i feel like Rot Wallow Venom is useless in power builds (as i and most of the people i asked much more prefer power over cond builds for thief since most people that play thief, in pvp and wvw, play for fast paced gameplay that power thief in every other spec provides).

Also, with a lesser initiative pool, i feel that the spec required me to take Trickery trait line, and i am left to change 1 trait line, not because Trickery is overpowered, but i just don't have enough initiative to cast skills.

Also as i like playing power more than condi and i would really love to be able to play power dps or some sort of power alacrity or power quickness build in Fractals and Raids, but sadly i cant, as the traits in Specter that can be selected is practically a choice between condi dmg or support/utility, and things like Rot Wallow Venom are useless in power builds, and there is no power dmg modifier trait option.

[Corvus.3695]

I absolutely love specter, and I especially love heal specter, which is why I am broken hearted that a true heal support specter has no place in the current meta. The lack of reliable stability, condi cleanse, and aoe healing in shroud are absolutely devastating to the spec's ability to compete with mainstay supports. I also find the might lacking, since the siphon doesn't generate might with thrill of the crime unless you target an enemy, but you need to use siphon on allies to tether new allies in shroud and revive allies. Since shroud gives you what little stability you have and a little extra might generation, and consuming shadows is certainly a tempting amount of barrier, it seems like spending time in shroud is appealing, but the second you enter shroud people start dying, and unless your tether target is the one taking all the damage there is nothing you can do about it until you leave shroud or tether a new target (which is not something you can do nearly often enough to rely on in that situation). 

The good news is there are some relatively simple solutions which might go a long way to improve the viability of support specter. By making one of the shroud abilities a shadowstep (dawn's repose is already a dash, turning it into a shadowstep seems like a short leap), they would have a small amount of aoe healing with traversing darkness which would allow them to cope with a little aoe damage without having to immediately leave shroud. Allowing siphon to generate boons when used on allies would handily solve the might issue, and the remaining problems could be solved with some minor tweaks to the wells to help them fill gaps in the areas of cleanse, stability, and possibly stun break. Other posters on this thread have already voiced all of this and more, and more eloquently and comprehensively, but I wanted to add my voice in support of the specialization and offer feedback based on my own experience to do my part as an active player and specter enthusiast.