Talk about being brought down a peg or two. The Master version of Vault of Glass, the more difficult version with a recommended Power of 1350, is absolutely no joke. I had some trepidation about it going in, but what I experienced was akin to running into a wall at full speed.
Our entire team consisted of seasoned Destiny players. We all managed to complete the Day One Vault of Glass raid, including the challenge mode for the unique emblem. It took us over 12 hours, but we cracked it and walked away ecstatic.
But this, this beast is something different. We loaded into the raid only to be beaten down, unable to hold the sync plates. We’d get overwhelmed with enemies, knocked back to the respawn point, and then be incapable of reclaiming our ground. Each time we were unable to reclaim our territory, we reloaded the encounter. The number of Goblins and Hobgoblins, coupled with the Overload Minotaurs, Praetorians, and Cyclops made it an uphill battle to wrestle control if you slipped.
This happened about three times. On the third, we paused in Orbit and revaluated our builds. There’s no point doing this too frequently, as it means you never really get to truly test whether something is working or whether people are just making mistakes.
What we found to be of value, at least with my sync plate partner and I, was cycling defensive Supers. I switched from Nova Bomb to Well of Radiance while he took off his Thundercrash Super and jumped into a Ward of Dawn. With Phoenix Protocol equipped, I was able to have my Well up quite frequently, which ensured we didn’t get one-shot by a lot of the enemies.
After more than 10 minutes of working to control the front and raise the Spire, we cracked open the Vault of Glass and went in. The first chest doesn’t reward Powerful gear, so it’s already off to a poor start. Then we ran straight into the wall: the Conflux. With additional Champions, stronger Wyverns, Harpies with Arc shields, and aerial units dealing more damage, we quickly decided that we’d had enough for one night.
Master Vault of Glass is, so far, a ridiculous challenge. It’s good, but the process of getting ready for it isn’t. I dislike that we all basically have to grind bounties and content that isn’t the raid in order to be able to do the raid. We should be rewarded for practicing the Normal VoG or attempting the Master version. The fact that the loot is shared across Normal and Master is also a bit of a joke. At the very least you should get rewards for both. Having the Timelost weapons locked behind Challenges feels okay – provided you can grind the challenge.
Given enough time, I think we could reasonably do this at 1335, but it is just looking to be a similar level of pain, for not a whole lot of gain.
