New Player Frustrations: LFG and More

OgreLeg · February 2023

I bought and played ESO back in beta and launch but only played to level 30 so having come back to the game and leveled my first couple 50's, I still consider myself a new player.

Overall ESO is a fantastic game. I like it a lot. But I have some questions, or borderline complaints, about some stuff that really bugs me. It bugs me enough to take 3 days to figure out how to get a forum invitation and come here to write this:

- Why do I have to sacrifice 4 slots (2 on front bar 2 on back) just to be a summoner sorc? I mean, one of the trees is "Summoner". Why do they despawn when I switch bars? The pets do not strike me as nearly powerful enough to warrant such a sacrifice.

- Likewise, why do I have to sacrifice both Ultimate slots just to have my Warden's bear out? It isn't even that great. As the Warden's only "execute" ability, the bear isn't even where it needs to be 90% of the time. What good is an execute with a 3 second cast time? (that cast time being my bear having to waddle on over to whatever I am currently targeting)

- Once I discovered that the bear pet could be directed via heavy attacks, I checked the other pets and none of them are commandable like this. So, for example, that Skeleton Archer is absolutely worthless because it will only attack whatever is closest to it. The nature of combat in ESO is far too mobile and chaotic for that sort of thing. I may as well have a DoT spell that chooses a random target.

- I leveled a Necromancer to 50 first and was absolutely crestfallen at it's lack of summoning ability. What really sucked was that I had to wait until level 40 to realize it when I finally got my only "summoned minions". Blastbones is not a summoned minion. It's magic missile or poison bolt at best except the projectile looks like a skeleton. The colossus is not a summoned minion. It's an AoE spell with a minion-like animation. All "minions" last somewhere between 1 and 10 seconds, maybe 20 max on one of them. The Necromancer was a truly heartbreaking experience. As was the Warden, from a summoner/pet class standpoint. I can't express how cheated I felt after putting all that time into my Necro.

- Why do I have to go 2hander to do any burst damage in melee? Why is 1h and shield, the absolute undeniable king of medieval weapons IRL, always so weak. Can we maybe turn that shield bash move into an execute? The morphs for it are awful.

- Which brings me to my next question. Why are half of the morphs so lame? That shield bash, for example, either morphs into less stamina cost if you blocked recently or it turns into a worse version of an ability you already have, that being shield charge. Shield bash can morph so that it stuns or knockdowns and then splits the damage between on hit and after stun completion. This means that if the enemy was CC'd anytime in the last 7 sconds or so, your shield bash simply performs at 50% damage. With no stun, you never get the other 50% of your damage. It's not like I can shield charge stun, then go into a shield bash stun. It seems all diminishing returns are shared so you can't, for example, stun someone then fear someone. You get 1 chance to CC someone in any way, then they have 7 seconds of immunity. So why would I need a shield charge that stuns and a shield bash that stuns but only gives me the full damage if it actually stuns? There are a lot of morphs like this that are either so lame I never see them used or they just turn the move into another version of a move you already have.

- There are a lot of heals and buffs that are placed as zones on the ground. It has been so frustrating to use these skills in groups with other players. I don't know if it's because players are used to not standing in stuff because of boss fights or what but other players constantly, constantly move out of my ground zones. Like, I don't mean they happen to be fighting and kind of step out of it or have to dodge something and roll out of it. I mean players actively avoid these healing/buff zones and it's sooooo annoying. Perhaps the "friendly" ground zones need something more to their animations or visual effects to sort of say "hey, dummy, I'm the good carpet! Stand on me!"

These are all minor frustrations that bring me to my biggest frustration as a new player: LFG Random Dungeons...

Firstly, what is with group queues? Seriously. There is something very broken about queuing as a group of 2 or more for PvE or PvP. I get constant instant-pops as a healer but if I add 1 dps to my party, I'm looking at a 30 minute to an hour queue time. However, thankfully someone in game pointed out that if you have, say, a DPS and a Healer queuing together that if you give the DPS group leadership and have them queue as DPS with support instead of support with DPS then it seems to fix the problem. While it appears to be working, that doesn't make any sense. As a new player (there are actually 6 of us that came together) it's very off-putting to be kept from playing with your friends. But this isn't even the biggest issue with LFG Random Dungeons.

I have missed so many quests and been left behind so many times to get mauled by the waves and waves of mobs that other players pull while simply running willy-nilly through the dungeon as if it's an Alterac Valley match. It's so annoying because not only does it make the dungeons a joke, not only does it waste tons of loot and experience, but it's also annoying because easily 75% of the time you just get cornered by all the mobs and have to fight them all anyways.

I can't stress how bad this is. As a new player, I only get to actually experience maybe 1 out of every 10 dungeons I do because there is no punishment for just walking past the mobs. Half the time, I don't even get to participate in the boss fights because I'm sprinting trying to catch up with everyone but my stamina pool is that of a new player and I just can't keep up. The other half, my quest gets messed up because I'm being rushed so hard that I don't have time to notice a thing I was supposed to pick up or talk to halfway through the dungeon.

It's just stupid and silly. I don't want to be a jerk but frankly, it's bad dungeon design. If we don't need to actually do the dungeon, why is my time being wasted with a map and chests and enemies? Just throw me in a room with a boss and call it a day.

TL:DR
- Why do pet classes suck? Why do I need 4 slots for 2 pet skills as a sorc? Why does my bear take up both my ultimates? Where are my necromancer minions? Why are so many skill morphs so lame? For the love of god, please please do something about everyone just sprinting through dungeons. Either just zone us directly into the boss fights or please fix the dungeon design.

Sarannah · February 2023

First off: Welcome to the game!

The sorc pets disappearing is because even though most players use two-bars, the game was never really intended to be played like that. Using two bars technically means using two different skillsets. And therefor the sorc pets disappear when you switch bars.

I agree with you that I too wish the necromancer had more permanent summons.

The sword and shield skilltree, is the main tanking bar. None of the skills in there are meant to actually do damage, but are more of a way to control mobs. So sword and shield is meant as a tanking tree, using this skilltree for DPS will result in low DPS later on.

The dungeonfinder is a mess at the moment(including some bugs), which ZOS needs to clean up very very fast. But there has been no word from ZOS if they are ever planning to. Very sorry you had some horrible experiences in there because of other players. To try and get rid of this issue, try to find a guild who does not mind teaching new players how dungeons work. Personally I hope ZOS fixes this fast.

Overall I agree with your post, thanks for posting it! Hopefully a few negative experiences will not put you off from the game, as the game is loads of fun. Goodluck, and enjoy!

MaleAmazon · February 2023

Welcome to the game!

So I´ll try to answer the questions since I´ve played this game way too much, and also give some tips you didn´t ask for:

Q: Why do I have to sacrifice 4 slots (2 on front bar 2 on back) just to be a summoner sorc? I mean, one of the trees is "Summoner". Why do they despawn when I switch bars?

A: They despawn because of gameplay balance. Pets give you DPS, if you could summon them indefinitely from a backbar everyone would do that. Same thing applies to the bear.

I remember Blizzard giving this, IMO sensible, answer when people were upset that Diablo 3 didn´t have weapon switching (I´m paraphrasing) - 'If weapon switching doesn´t give an advantage it is pointless, and if it gives an advantage it becomes mandatory, which we don´t want'. I think this applies to pets as well.

"the bear isn't even where it needs to be 90% of the time

You can command your bear to attack an enemy via hotkey (I don´t know what you mean by heavy attacks). I believe you hold the hotkey and click left mouse button on the enemy (I´m sure someone can help you more, personally I detest pets and haven´t used them in a long time, but I know the attack command is doable, I´ve done it in the past. Maybe that´s what you mean by heavy attack, I dunno.)

I can't express how cheated I felt after putting all that time into my Necro.

If you feel that strongly about it, you should go to UESP and check out all skills before you spend time levelling.

Why do I have to go 2hander to do any burst damage in melee? Why is 1h and shield, the absolute undeniable king of medieval weapons IRL, always so weak. Can we maybe turn that shield bash move into an execute? The morphs for it are awful... So why would I need a shield charge that stuns and a shield bash that stuns but only gives me the full damage if it actually stuns?

You don´t. You can do burst with all weapons (ok, restoration staff and sword + board, maybe not so much). As for morphs being "awful", that´s your personal opinion. Objectively, they are not awful. If you do not feel a skill is useful for your build, don´t use it. Reverberating bash is objectively a good stun in PvE if you are in a fight, it is cheaper and does more damage than shield charge. If it is bad in PvP, don´t use it in PvP.

There are a lot of heals and buffs that are placed as zones on the ground. It has been so frustrating to use these skills in groups with other players.

Yeah. They are useful in coordinated groups, especially in PvE. Above reasoning about some things sometimes not being useful applies here as well.

It's just stupid and silly. I don't want to be a jerk but frankly, it's bad dungeon design. If we don't need to actually do the dungeon, why is my time being wasted with a map and chests and enemies? Just throw me in a room with a boss and call it a day.

Ok, so IMO it is not really bad dungeon design. The problem (if you want to call it that) is that if you do random dungeons, most of us have done those dungeons literally 100 times, and people do them for the daily rewards. So, unfortunately for you, most people simply do not want to take their time. If you want to do quests in old dungeons, I´d advise you to get at least 3 people who want to do the quest, preferably all 4. You can kick the 4th player if he / she (= he) runs ahead and finishes bosses. I´d say that´s acceptable.

HF GL.

colossalvoids · February 2023

It's just stupid and silly. I don't want to be a jerk but frankly, it's bad dungeon design.

It's not about dungeon design, rdf is single worst way to enjoy the dungeon. It's a fine tool for farming, but relying on it to get enjoyment with questing or even a proper run isn't the way to go as it's completely random with what you'll get, and with the game attracting more general/broader audience you're getting just that.

OgreLeg · February 2023

Hey MaleAmazon and Sarannah o/

Awesome responses, thank you. Especially in regards to the bar switching and pets disappearing. Sarannah brought up some good points and that quote MaleAmazon posted from Blizzard, though a different game and company, was an excellent point and very relevant to what I was starting to suspect; maybe the combat isn't necessarily designed for me to be switching bars as much as I do.

I suppose it would be asking too much for a brutal sword and board executioner. I think that, really, I just keep finding myself gravitating towards 2hander no matter the class because, well, it's just more effective by far. This particular point is in regards to PvP. I think everything else I mentioned was in regards to PvE or just general overall gameplay. I think what I'm trying to say on this one is that I feel ushered into a box when it comes to melee PvP. I think it would be refreshing if we could stretch our legs on some more options.

"You can command your bear to attack an enemy via hotkey (I don´t know what you mean by heavy attacks)"

I know what you mean. It's the 'Y' key by default. Whenever you wind up a heavy attack, though, it also works as if you pressed 'Y'. So the bear will always go after the last target you started a Heavy Attack on. The attack does not need to finish or land. Simply winding one up will command the bear. This can be great sitting on a boss but in all other aspects it's 50/50 if your bear pal is where he needs to be.

JakelDK · February 2023

Welcome to ESO and the forums

SilverWF · February 2023

Sarannah wrote: »

The sorc pets disappearing is because even though most players use two-bars, the game was never really intended to be played like that.

I wonder, were it intended to be played like constant animation cancer?

HappyDan · February 2023

1. Sorc pets are completely busted sorc is the strongest single target class in the game, they sacrifice AOE damage for single target via pets, giving them 2 extra slots for dots will improve their single target even further and increase the gap even more. There are 2 solutions for this, make pets timed like the necromancer's or make them weaker I'm not a fan of either option. Sorc always been considered the newbie class so making pets not permanent will hurt class identity, and making them weaker will make casuals even weaker so they are quite good as they are. If you feel like you don't have enough space just use 1 pet.
2. Same thing for Warden's bear, it's the warden's best ultimate when it comes down to boss fights, yeah in AOE it sucks ass but in single target it's very strong, giving warden a 1 bar bear will make them too strong just like the sorc argument.
3. There is a command to command your pets, I don't quite remember the exact key bind but I think it's Y+ left click but check your keybind to make sure.
4. Necro is the perfect example of how sorc/warden would look like if they didn't have permanent pets, necro is one of the stronger classes in the game, giving them a permanent companion like warden/sorc would have made them too unbalanced. Now you see why there is a cost for permanent pets
5. You don't have to play 2h for close range if you don't like it, you can use destruction staff,bow,dual wield up close nobody forces you to use 2h. As for shields yest tank in ESO do very little damage, there might be some niche bash setup but it's not worth it, just how ZOS made shield damage modifiers same as Resto staff, it's not meant to dps.
6. Yeah zos needs to revisit some morphs as many of them never used pretty much anywhere (pve/pvp), some have good use but you are correct there are some morphs that are just hot garbage.
7. Welcome to healer's nightmare, dd's that run like headless chickens avoid ground healing aoes. Imo just be the chad healer put hot's on the boss for the tank if dd's run around and not stay in them and die it' their fault and they can go suck an egg. If you get complaint just tell them stay in aoe heals or die you aint gonna burn your entire mag bar to heal some speedy Gonzales running in circles.
8. Yeah that one is a mystery, but queing as 2/3 is slower than solo queue. Always let a DPS queue if you aren't solo queing.
9. Well yeah since transmutes are mostly locked behind rnd's and endgame users need transmutes a lot they run dungeons super fast to finish them and move on so they just rush to boss to get the RND credit. It sucks for new players only way to avoid it is to run with friends/guildies until zos gives us a different way to farm transmutes (besides pvp) you will always have dungeon rushers.

HappyDan · February 2023

SilverWF wrote: »

Sarannah wrote: »

The sorc pets disappearing is because even though most players use two-bars, the game was never really intended to be played like that.

I wonder, were it intended to be played like constant animation cancer?

Nobody forces you to "animation cancer" yes it increases your dps by quite a bit but if you aren't pushing for the harder content nobody forces you to do it. It's a skill gap some people can do it some can't it creates a gap and this gap is healthy for MMO's it rewards people to try their best to improve instead of prest 12345 waiting for cd to end and then 12345 again.

SilverWF · February 2023

HappyDan wrote: »

SilverWF wrote: »

Sarannah wrote: »

The sorc pets disappearing is because even though most players use two-bars, the game was never really intended to be played like that.

I wonder, were it intended to be played like constant animation cancer?

Nobody forces you to "animation cancer" yes it increases your dps by quite a bit but if you aren't pushing for the harder content nobody forces you to do it. It's a skill gap some people can do it some can't it creates a gap and this gap is healthy for MMO's it rewards people to try their best to improve instead of prest 12345 waiting for cd to end and then 12345 again.

Nobody?
If I wanna do PVP not at 'potato' level - I SHOULD do that
In the PvP that animation cancering and other EXPLOITS (IMO that's how it all should be named) became an ABSOLUTE: Light attack animation cancels with skills, skills animation cancel with blocks/swaps/rolls, roll-jumps (way longer roll), block-jumps (longer jumps) etc
You SHOULD do all of that
Otherwise... you know.
Just look at this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c95xJ98fM48
I adwise you to set speed to 0.5 to be able even understand of what's going on and how many actions per second this guy do.

Not, I didn't want to "prest 12345 waiting for cd to end and then 12345 again" but this (at video) is a 'bit' too much, dont you think?

Anumaril · February 2023

I’ve got to agree with you on these. I agree most with the necromancer though. I main a necro now, and was waiting for years for them to add it to the game. When they did I felt heartbroken about how it was implemented.

I imagined it kind of like a demonology warlock in WoW where you have a swarm of minions you had to manage, refreshing them when their timer went out, buffing them with spells to boost their damage, etc, with maybe 1 spammable for the player.

As it stands we have 2 necro summons: skeletal mage/archer, and the healing spirit. It really doesn’t feel like a necromancer at all, more like a generic dark mage. Heck, those 2 necro summons (which involves raising a minion from the dead) don’t even require corpses to cast and instead generate corpses, as if that makes any sense at all.

I’m crossing my fingers that eventually ZOS will do a major class rework for necro and actually lean into the necromancer fantasy.

Either that or add spellcrafting so I can just make my own skeletal minion spells.

Anumaril · February 2023

Anumaril wrote: »

As it stands we have 2 necro summons: skeletal mage/archer, and the healing spirit. It really doesn’t feel like a necromancer at all, more like a generic dark mage. Heck, those 2 necro summons (which involves raising a minion from the dead) don’t even require corpses to cast and instead generate corpses, as if that makes any sense at all.

I can't help but feel we ended up getting a lacklustre necromancer because of ZOS' insistence that classes added by Chapters must be playable by damage dealers, healers, and tanks (compared to launch-era classes which sometimes have 2 dd skill lines and either no tank or no healer skill lines, or a mix of them, etc).

This never made any sense to me for a necromancer, as a tank necromancer goes against everything we know about the fantasy of that type of sorcerer. I'd venture to say the same about healer, but a necromancer learning soul spells to heal someone isn't as far fetched as a necromancer armouring up and throwing themselves at enemies (with no summoned minion, so not even using "necromancy" per se).

If we didn't have the shoehorned 3-role structure for necros, we could've had 1 skill line be the generic evil magic stuff we have now, and then another skill line be summoning-based where we manage minions similar to what I described above in relation to demonology warlocks in WoW. Alas, here we are.

EDIT: the only way I could see a necro tank work thematically is if ZOS thought outside the box and gave the player a permanent minion that actually does the tanking, requiring the player to manage it to keep it alive, direct threat to it, etc. Either that or adding a spell to possess the minion and actually move around with it like it were the player character (maybe switching between the two to upkeep some spells on the player before switching back to the minion, although the player would likely need to have a damage reduction buff while they possess the minion for this to work).

I know that this is at least somewhat doable because I've done it before, again, with a demonology warlock from WoW. And it is FUN, albeit not viable for high-end content due to the class not having a lot of skills designed around it (so imagine what ZOS could do if they designed a who skill line around it...).

Zodiarkslayer · February 2023

@OgreLeg ESO is what it is. With all its bad sides. There is no point in lamenting such early design chioces, like summoned pets requiring two slots on each bar.
That is written so deep into the code, there is no way around it, anymore.

What one player finds isn't fitting the game or a problem for gameplay is usually because that player expects something entirely else and so one's expectations are disappointed.

That goes for ESO's players as well. Dont expect anything. Your experience is not the concern of anyone queing for dungeons, normal or veteran. Why would it?
Your experience is your responsibility.

A lot of players will SOLO dungeons for that exact reason. Have the experience in their own time. Or with a friend, perhaps? Perfectly doable.

CBreeze71 · February 2023

Dungeon rushers are the reason I don't do dungeons anymore. And I only ran a couple until it dawned on me that a "group" dungeon is anything but.

Additionally, I shouldn't have to be forced to run with friends or a guild. People just need some common decency.

I am in a really nice guild, but unfortunately I am an extreme introvert and have a hard time asking for help. But that part is on me.

Ksariyu · February 2023

I agree with nearly all of your points. Ultimately though, most of these have been brought up countless times, and minus the legit bugs like the group finder, many long-term endgame players will tell you that every major design choice the devs have made were the right ones. Sarannah I think was 100% correct about barswapping, for example: It wasn't the original intent to have players use the second bar as a DoT/Utility holder, but that's what it became so now that's what they balance for. LA weaving shares a similar story.

Regarding weapons, Two-Hander is not particularly more bursty than Dual Wield. Realistically, burst damage isn't even a thing outside of PvP. In PvE, everything is about sustained damage regardless of your weapon choice, so don't feel too restricted unless you're going for full-on meta. As for 1H+S, people insist that giving it any form of viable damage would irreparably unbalance the game. I don't personally agree with that sentiment, but I've already died on that hill so I won't repeat it here.

My advice is: Embrace it for what it is, or find a different game, because the devs have been very clear that they don't plan on changing pretty much anything you mentioned.

I do have to strongly disagree with one thing though: The dungeon design in this game is not poor. It's actually quite exceptional in many areas in my opinion, with some of game's best stories, environments, and mechanics (Though a bit of randomization might be nice). The problem that you and many, many other players experience is a result of the reward system. Most people at this point have no interest in actually playing the dungeons; they're only there for their transmute stones. The good news is many dungeons can be soloed on normal mode, though if you came to the game with five friends you should have no problem getting four of you together for Veteran Hard Mode if you want to pursue that. Either one of these is the recommended way to try new dungeons because yeah, you'll miss 75% of it going with random people on their 568th run.

pelle412 · February 2023

One problem with players experiencing rushed dungeons is that dungeons have story elements inside them. I think that was well intended but with predictable side effects. I've seen in other games that have dungeon quests. The story there is outside the dungeon. Quest giver is outside dungeon and your rewards happen outside the dungeon as well. This would help players not miss interesting aspects of the story.

mague · February 2023

OgreLeg wrote: »

TL:DR
- Why do pet classes suck? Why do I need 4 slots for 2 pet skills as a sorc? Why does my bear take up both my ultimates? Where are my necromancer minions? Why are so many skill morphs so lame? For the love of god, please please do something about everyone just sprinting through dungeons. Either just zone us directly into the boss fights or please fix the dungeon design.

Speedrun attitude in this game is bad. I feel the same as veteran. Sad really for new players and veterans.

Necro is really different.. but many things are different in the Elder Scrolls universe. He is not really a summoner as in... say D2.

Pet classes.. all classes are a bigger picture of race, class and build. Bear is not weak. Try combat metrics to see real numbers. He is scaling of your stats, CP and sets. Blooddrinker and automaton sets change the bear a lot

He is the biggest finisher in the game. 60k and above. Y+click controlls him also. And on the gamepad you can set a key for it.

Why do you need more slots for a sorcerer ? With the oaken ring many of us even play with onre bar only. ESO is a bit different. Not as button monster as some other games with 6 bars

Have fun !

zaria · February 2023

colossalvoids wrote: »

It's just stupid and silly. I don't want to be a jerk but frankly, it's bad dungeon design.

It's not about dungeon design, rdf is single worst way to enjoy the dungeon. It's a fine tool for farming, but relying on it to get enjoyment with questing or even a proper run isn't the way to go as it's completely random with what you'll get, and with the game attracting more general/broader audience you're getting just that.

This, join a social guild, most of them run lots of randoms dungeons and are more relaxed.

Araneae6537 · February 2023

Welcome to ESO but sorry to hear about your frustrations! I always create at least one character for each class to give it a try and usually I eventually find a play style that works for me with the class.

Necro does have some wonky visuals, including that weird skull flinging, tombstones, and that silly goliath when a proper necro ult would have been summoning a bone colossus. Ah well. I actually created my first necro after playing through the Elsweyr side quest with Vastarie — I was disappointed to not have any necro skills that are particularly effective against undead as I often enjoy playing against type as well.

Totally agreed about normal dungeons and it seems to me MUCH more a problem than when I started playing ESO mid 2019. Were transmutes not always a reward for random normals? Still, I really wish there was a story/quest mode so that when first discovering a dungeon, you could take your time and explore everything. Sure, you can eventually solo many dungeons I guess but by that time you’ve probably already done the quest so you’d have to create a new character or otherwise avoid doing dungeons until you are able to solo.

Necrotech_Master · February 2023

heavy attack commands summoned pets such as companions, sorc pets, and warden bear

i would agree the necromancer "pets" are not really pets, they cannot be commanded like other pets, and are only temporary instead of staying up effectively indefinitely

blastbones hits like a truck, but i hate the skill lockout until the skeleton decides it wants to blow up, which is usually a minimum of 2 seconds, the skeletal arcanist/archer are extremely weak, the only semi useful one would be the wraith for the passive healing (when it targets you)

i dont usually do randoms as im focused on running dungeons i need to collect the gear from, but they are randoms and always a mixed bag and sometimes i prefer to just solo the dungeon over trying to deal with randoms

mocap · February 2023

OgreLeg wrote: »

I bought and played ESO back in beta and launch but only played to level 30 so having come back to the game and leveled my first couple 50's

You probably have some legacy items. Theoretically, they can be sold for quite a lot of gold.

Amottica · February 2023

1. The two Sorc pets are essentially permanent summons unlike other regular summons. They continue to do damage even if we don’t press their buttons again. Double bar skirting them is the cost for that and it should remain as it is.
2. The same answer applies to the warden bear.
3. While the permanent summons are controlled via heavy attack and the keybound commands the summons like blastbones target just like a regular skill targets.
4. Blastbones is more like an instant skill than a summons though the necro does have actual summons. Iirc it has two summons other than the ultimate.
5. 1H & S is more of a tanking weapon. As such there is a trade off between damage dealing and damage reduction. It would be far to OP if it did damage like the rest of the weapons and still gave all that protection. It’s an MMORPG thing.

I’m sure you’ll find the builds you like. Enjoy the game.

Androrix · February 2023

OgreLeg wrote: »

- Likewise, why do I have to sacrifice both Ultimate slots just to have my Warden's bear out? It isn't even that great. As the Warden's only "execute" ability, the bear isn't even where it needs to be 90% of the time. What good is an execute with a 3 second cast time? (that cast time being my bear having to waddle on over to whatever I am currently targeting)

Welcome!

Bruno the bear is actually astounding. He fights. He distracts. He knocks down. He gives you a 4% critical damage bonus just by being slotted and a whopping 1500 health regen if you slot the right red champion ability because he costs nothing to cast or sustain (you aren't there yet, so may not appreciate this particular bonus). He also happens to be big, furry, and cuddly.