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Players will take the most expedient route if you let them and the devs have given them exactly that in short, repeatable missions. In CoV the problem doesn't seem as acute, perhaps because I both team less villainside and because the newspaper there is integrated into the contact system instead of being an adjunct to it as it is heroside.
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Actually, I just try to avoid the mission chains that send you from Zone A (where your contact is) then to Zone B, then back to the contact, then to Zone C, then back to the contact, then to Zone D... et cetera. If the contacts would allow you to call them after the first mission, and would predominantly give mission within the same zone that the contact is located in, then I'd be much much more willing to run through regular contacts.
That's why Faultline and Striga contacts tend to get a lot more patronage from heroes, and why villains tend to actually pay attention to their contacts instead of focusing on the newspaper. Inconvenience does not equal content, or challenge - it is just inconvenience.
There is no reason why, when you are willing to put yourself in harm's way at a contact's behest, they shouldn't answer their [expletive deleted] phone for you.
