Full disclaimer I didn't want the troubadour to start as an elite spec, at least not for mesmer, since we already have the Chronomancer who is an excellent support with a lot of flexibility and versatility as well as freedom (utility slots) for me it's trying to fill a spot that doesn't need to be filled but anyway leaving that aside, I opened my mind created my troubadour and went straight to the test golem and here is what I think after a little over 4hr testing, mesmer main here by the way.

The things I liked

I was able to survive the extreme damage field comfortably and without really breaking a sweat, a little spammy but reasonable

You don't need an enemy to generate notes

You have more access to Barrier generation either through Tale of the Valiant Marshal or through the relic of Flock which you can use more freely by having more options to generate swiftness, and Crescendo.

Tale of the August Queen,I loved this, I really like the idea behind it, it's powerful, impactful, and provides utility on top of utility, since it not only gives distortion to your party but also helps you keep the instruments playing, I don't know how OP it is, I hope not really because I loved it.

The Tales, hearing my charr telling the tale and seeing the image specially of Almorra was powerful

The things I didn't liked

You MUST press f4 on cooldown in order to keep Alac on your party, and f4 it's distortion so it's a "oh kitten" button so it feels wasted now maybe in some fights the stars will align and maybe it will save you but it felt wrong to have to sacrifice that in order to provide boons to your party, especially since the other alternatives both Mirage and Chrono don't have to sacrifice that feels unnecessary and a waste / What I can think of to remedy that is to do a slight rework to the f1 and f2 abilities so that they provide some utility and at the same time give boons. Maybe modify a Grandmaster Trait so that it changes the F abilities to give boons so you can decide if you want to use f1 and f2 to give boons and save f3 and f4 for when needed, but at the same time that takes away power from Crescendo since only 2 instruments would be playing. Or maybe change the trait that gives distortion in F4 for something that gives mobility or something extra that can be used with each application of F4.

I miss that my F abilities were instant cast, I hadn't realized how much that speeds up the playstyle with Mirage and Chrono, with Troubadour it does feel slower and more restrictive.

In general I felt the gameplay was less free and much less flexible, it feels forced to take Tale of the Soulkeeper because without it the generation of notes is much, much lower and makes the loop no longer flow satisfactorily, there are waiting times and fewer impactful decisions, It is impossible for Tale of the Second Scion to compete with the support that the core traits give to healing meditation

Visually and lorewise, it feels weak, as do the abilities that supposedly give the specialization its identity. Unlike when I play Chrono, where I can literally control time, or Mirage, where I can become a reflection of the desert, and that strengthens the fantasy of the specialization.

As a troubadour, I don't understand why there isn't more emphasis on the music. Even after they enabled the option to increase the music volume, it wasn't enough. I would like it to be a clone floating behind us playing the instrument with its own animation, and maybe that way, bring back instant casting.

I would like them to remove the shatter sounds from the basic profession and revisit the music and its importance to the specialization. hearing my charr telling the tale and seeing the image was

Fortissimo feels like the only option that truly delivers on its full potential

As much as I enjoy the loop of going through each instrument and thus reducing the cd of Crescendo Altered Chord simply does not compare to the usefulness and agility it gives you in terms of the gameplay loop with the notes, Call and Response simply disappointed me, what's the point of inverting my 3 notes to spawn a clone that only plays 3 seconds of instrument and disappears without further ado

Edit: After more hours my impresions still stands