I have done it when the event was first introduced (mostly by using the old AFK on a rock strat) and have not touched it ever since. The PTSD is still too strong for me to ever go back. No reward they could introduce is worth going through this again.
I think I have a bad strat. Optimal way to farm pearls seems to be to kite in a route past all the Lob Blobs. If you're far enough away the enemies run at you in a straight line. But it's so unbelievably boring, especially considering I need like 51 runs to buy out Nakak's shop.
I do the opposite of you and focus on enemies that are targeting teammates. They're usually pathing in a straight line so they're fairly easy to hit. If someone has already tried attacking one of those enemies though, I'll try to leave them alone, I'm only trying to use my team as a distraction and not a place to steal kills from.