I got invited to a group of randoms and we ran a few 9 man sessions of it.

It's . . . . interesting. I don't like it quite as much as Escalation Protocol so far. I don't quite understand all the mechanics yet, I don't think, but the biggest issue for me is that you get confined to these little bubbles. You can leave them, but if you stay out for more than a few seconds you take damage and have to get back in. The mists mean you can't see well and with nine players in the bubble, if feels like everyone is tripping over everyone one else.

It's still a lot of fun, but I think I prefer the open areas of EP a bit more.

I did some yesterday and I quite enjoy it. Its faster paced, much like Court of Oryx.

I did get lost my first time exploring, I didn't know about the bubbles.

Basically, travel from bubble to bubble killing guys. You will see these Yellow named guys (cant recall their names right now). Kill them, they drop little orbs that give you 15 seconds of Harmony Buff. This buff refills your super and abilities really quick, also you dont take mist damage. ALso allows you to damage the shielded enemies that appear.

You probably new most of that but maybe someone did not.

Basically on boss face i focus on killing a yellow bar, getting the orb. focusing down Boss shield, then finding another yellow bar. Repeat.

Spoiler: You can get another Seed of Light for your Subclass here randomly. I got mine on my second run, but some have done 30+ with no luck.

I got invited to a group of randoms and we ran a few 9 man sessions of it.

It's . . . . interesting. I don't like it quite as much as Escalation Protocol so far. I don't quite understand all the mechanics yet, I don't think, but the biggest issue for me is that you get confined to these little bubbles. You can leave them, but if you stay out for more than a few seconds you take damage and have to get back in. The mists mean you can't see well and with nine players in the bubble, if feels like everyone is tripping over everyone one else.

It's still a lot of fun, but I think I prefer the open areas of EP a bit more.

I ran the Tier 2 event several times in a row to complete Petra’s bounty. I was honestly done with it after the 2nd run, but I needed 5 completions for the bounty. It’s... fine? But not great, I’d say.

The part I’m not thrilled about is that the consumable we need to unlock more of our new subclasses ONLY drops from the Blind Well, and is a random drop. After 5 completions, I got 1 of them. But another guy in my group said it took him 20 tier 2 completions to get one. THAT sucks.

Ran about 4-5 L1 Blind well tonight. I was hoping for some gear drop considering the recommended light level was 530 but only got resources and some occasional L1 trinkets to reset. Ran L2 and got to the bosses but didn't have the damage to put them down (there are two of them at L2, and they're 540 light level I think, and I was 510.) Petra sells the activators for each level, but the L2 ones are expensive so I'd want to be sure we're going to knock it out before asking anyone to spend the $$$ on it (or spending it myself).

The bubbles are safe zones, they give you a buff that keeps you from taking mist damage while in the bubble for 5-10 seconds after you leave the bubble. They don't block weapons fire so you can shoot safely from there...most enemies will come into the bubble to fight you anyway.

The non-shielded yellow bars drop orbs that give you a buff 'Harmony' that charges up your class abilities and super and lets you damage shielded guys. Once the shield is down they are vulnerable to anyone, whether they have the Harmony buff or not. I'd usually pick up the buff then throw chaos reach on whoever I'm fighting...in L1 I could kill the servants of the plague solo at 510.

To get spark of light for your other subclasses it's a random drop at L2. I've heard of people getting it on the first try, not sure what the drop rate is.

Does anyone want to farm L2 well for those drops? I'm up to about 515 now, I presume I'll need to be closer to 530 to be helpful. Maybe next week I'll be doing better.

It`s silly fun for 10-15 minutes, but I wouldn't say it`s particularly worth the effort that it takes to get a full group together to run it.

Of all the activities of this nature that we`ve seen in Destiny so far, this is probably my least favorite version. Court of Oryx had the fun Boss encounters, Archon`s Forge had way more variety, Escalation Protocol feels way more epic while also providing encounters that give large teams of Guardians the opportunity to coordinate and work together in fun ways.

So far, the Blind Well feels like an activity that you just have to brute-force your way through. You are forced to stand on these circular plates with no cover while hordes of enemies rush at you. It all comes down to whether or not you have the numbers and dps to kill them before they swarm and overwhelm you. So if you go in with a group of 1-3, it just feels impossible. Then at 4-6 players you`ve got enough to handle Tier 1 or 2, depending on everyone`s light level. Somewhere around 7-9 players, the balance just tips and it becomes an utter joke. You barely need any organization or coordination at all, unless you go all the way up to Tier 3.

The thing is, after somewhere around 10-12 completions, I`ve never experienced a good middle-ground with this activity. It either feels impossible, or laughably easy depending on the group size and light levels.

As an aside, I think Bungie`s lack of matchmaking for these activities is just inexcusable at this point. I`ve wandered into the Blind Well many times, hoping to find a group to run the activity with. It never happens. Sometimes I find 1 or 2 other guardians in there waiting, but that simply is not enough to have an honest hope of completing the activity. They kind of got away with it for Court of Oryx and Archon`s Forge. Those activites, while tough for a team of 3, were still manageable. Plus it was common enough to go in with a team of 3 and find 1 or 2 other guardians in the area, which felt just perfect for the activities. But EP and now the Blind Well simply are not 3-4 player activities.I understand if 9-player matchmaking is too problematic, but at least allowing a team of 6 to be queued up together seems reasonable enough, and would make it far easier to engage with these experiences. At least with EP, the activity was so much fun that people would be willing to spend an hour setting up a group, but in my experience, groups in the Blind Well start to crumble real fast, because the activity itself gets old so quickly. It just isn`t worth the effort it takes to get it going, aside from quest and bounty progression.

Six of us spent the night farming Escalation Protocol, and it really has me sort of bummed about Blind Well. Don't get me wrong, Blind Well is fun for what it is, but it just doesn't rate next to Escalation Protocol in my mind.

Maybe that will change once we see Tier 4, or maybe the changing status of the Dreaming City will do something to Blind Well, too. I doubt it, though. Standing inside a claustrophobic bubble, surrounded by enemies you can't see well is just not a great mechanic, in my opinion. Escalation Protocol really benefits from the space it's in, whereas Blind Well is just way too cramped.