How annoying are escorts on outdoor maps?

I have an arc where the final mission takes place on the outdoor Steel Canyon map (the one from the villain cape mission). One of the objectives is to rescue someone. Currently the someone is a captive, but I have been thinking of making him an escort because 1) he is a civilian, it really makes more sense to lead him to safety than to let him loose in a map full of bad guys who want to kill him, and 2) the mission really should be timed, and the bug that causes timed missions with captives to autofail doesn't seem to apply to escorts (I will of course have to test this further)

Now, how annoying do people find leading an escort all the way across an outdoor map? This isn't one of the ones with the bugged door that escorts can't find, but it is pretty big, with a 2/5 chance of the hostage spawning on the opposite side from the door. Many of the complaints I get on this arc are about the size of that map. Would adding an escort make it worse for people who dislike big outdoor maps?

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Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper

Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World

As with all things, it really might depend on the player(s).

1. A large team...:

A. ...might not want to stop for someone to take the escort back to the entrance.
B. ...might not notice if someone slips back to the entrance to take the escort while the rest of the team clears (depending on how thoroughly cleared the path back to the entrance is).
C. ...might not care, as long as they can safely "carry" the escort with them while they continue to clear out other objectives. This carries the risk of getting the escort killed, and "failing" the mission.

2. A solo player will have to take the escort back to the entrance regardless. Reactions to this will depend on...
A. ...the PC's AT. A brute is going to annoyed that they are losing Fury while taking the squeaking escort back to the entrance. A stalker or other stealthed AT is going to be upset they will lose stealth wihle guiding them back. A blaster whose fighting critters resistant to their damage type is going to have a long slog (of course they are probably used to it if they solo)
B. The player's playstyle. If you're willing to play slow and clear out a good path, then it might not be a big deal. If you like to stealth or fly-scout an outdoor map in order to avoid combat, the player's probably not going to like hoofin' it all the way over to the entrance if its far away.

As far as this particular map goes, it has two things going for it:
1. It's very open, unlike a forest map, so you're probably not likely to lose the escort.
2. Mob spawn points are usually pretty easy to avoid if you want to.

Also, I think "back" on this map is actually very close to the entrance-van, I think it's behind the motel where you spawn in.

As long as it is easy to maneouver around the mobs and its easy to keep LOS with the escort, I think leading an escort should be alright. Now, FINDING the escort might be a little more annoying, but I suppose that would be the trade off.

Still, given the nature of CoX Missions and the AE mishes in general, you really can't "fail" a mission and have permanent consequences. The program just isn't that sophisticated as to have branching storylines if you fail that objective.

But as for whether adding the escort will make people who hate big outdoor maps hate it more? Well, they're already biased against the map as is, adding another feature which is controversial (and I'm sure you've seen some hate for escort objectives) - you probably wouldn't win any more friends. Still, its already a biased opinion.

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"...his madness keeps him sane.": My Profile on VirtueVerse
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"Back" on this map has no meaning, last I checked. Some outdoor maps say they have a front, middle and back, but they don't.

Finding the escort is the same as finding the captive. You have to save the guy regardless, it's important to the story.

As for him getting killed, I'm pretty sure civilian escorts can't be killed. The mission is intended to be failable, hence the timer (which it currently can't have, due to the guy being a captive and that stupid bug), but not intended to be easily failed, hence the timer being an hour.

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Eva Destruction AR/Fire/Munitions Blaster
Darkfire Avenger DM/SD/Body Scrapper

Arc ID#161629 Freaks, Geeks, and Men in Black
Arc ID#431270 Until the End of the World