I've been doing exactly that across three different farming runs both last week and this week. No catalyst progression at all. I wouldn't mind if the weapon was actually useful against the boss, but it's not. Not only is it completely worthless against foes that do that generic-as--blam!- ground pound the instant anybody tries to get close, but it actively prevents me from equipping another weapon that would almost definitely do the job better. While the sword is equipped, I'm worthless to the group. If the catalyst progression really is RNG-based, then that means that while I'm trying to progress the catalyst, until the game suddenly decides to throw me a bone, I will continue to be worthless to the group. Combine that with the lackluster reward (only valuable to completionists like myself), and progressing this catalyst is, in every sense of the phrase, a complete and utter -blam!-ing waste of time. Bungie should just change the requirements to something else, or at least be -blam!-ing open about it rather than the "it's a mystery" bullshit, and save us all a -blam!-ing headache.