Greater sense of enjoyment? For some people sure.
Realism? I don't think so. Your contact is sending you to save the world and he can't even give you precise directions?
Which doesn't mean I'm necessarily against the idea. I just think it might be better suited to scanner/newspaper missions thematically, to fit more the 'you picked up a tip' kind of feel. Or possibly following one of those Defeat All missions where you're supposed to be beating the location of something out of the bad guys.
(Which might also help cut down on the number of quarrels in-team over how difficult the option should be set, or even if it should be set at all. Join a paper team; assume it's going to be used.)
Perhaps, if we want to get really complicated, allow it for all missions solo, but only some teamed.
However, it turned out that Smith was not a time-travelling Terminator
Eh. I could see it for hunts, maybe ("Malta sighted 500 yd away!") but for missions in general? No.
Just imagine:
"Attention all units, robbery in progress... somewhere downtown!"
"Can you give us a more precise address?"
"Nope. I'll let you know when you get close. It's in a building."
It would also be *irritating as hell* on a timed mission. And make no sense for, say, Portal Corp. missions - "Guess which portal!" Or for those nice, fun "Underground" missions, such as in Brickstown. "I should be there."
And don't forget the "Lost beacon" missions - like in Seer Marino's arc, or the (newly broken with AE building placement) ones in Brickstown - hard to tell if it's broken or you're just missing something.
No, thanks.
I would not use this option.
Your mission is "Somewhere in Perez Park" or "Somewhere in Indy Port"? No thanks.
While I like the overall concept of the rangefinder, using it for normal missions would get old real fast. Radio/Newspaper missions, which generally have a "You heard about this earlier" theme, would be an okay fit, but I can easily see people who grind those missions throwing a fit over the extra work.
It's a neat gimmick that would be cool to use more often, but it'd monkeywrench the current grind too drastically.
"Take the Yuan-Ti, bash them with a club made of frozen stupidity, then rip out their sense of subtlety with a rusty spoon, and then you have the Snakes of Mercy Isle" -Taltha Widowfang, drow stalker
Now playing at an MA near you: Dragonslayers #335375
One of the aspects that I really liked about the Banner Event for Halloween was how you didn't get a map marker telling you exactly where the final boss was. Instead, you got a "Range to Target" counter which gave you a general sense of where to go.
I'd love to see something similar to that implemented for mission doors too.
Essentially, what the interface would be like is that when you're beyond 300 ft from the mission door, you don't see a marker on your map indicating precisely where it is. Instead, you get a "Range to Mission Door" counter in your map compass, just like you did with the Banner Event. Only once you're within 300 ft of the mission door do you get a precise fix (like we currently have now) complete with map marker and a pointer on screen indicating exact distance and direction.
This would turn the task of "Finding the Mission Door!" into a bit of a mini-game scavenger hunt operation, rather than just a mere "travelling" task.
Now ... why would *anyone* want to go to the extra effort of having to FIND mission doors like that, if you don't (and never have) need to? Because it could be made OPTIONAL (see in-game character options menus) and give a small mission reward if chosen.
These sorts of mission door pointers are only relevant in three circumstances (currently) ... find a door to enter an instanced mission ... find the public police phone to complete a "patrol" objective for a pizza run mission that has you cruising the streets ... or go hit up a contact to talk to them in person as a mission objective. Any and all of these three things could get the Banner Event "mini-game" treatment, where you don't get a precise fix on the location to go to until you're "in the neighborhood" of where you need to get to.
Note that this means that "Gain a New Contact" could similarly be converted to take advantage of this mini-game ... such that new contacts are not simply "given" to you, they're granted as a result of a "mission" to simply go talk to them (for the first time), similar to the "Go Talk to Wincott" mission you're given for your first trip out to The Hollows.
So first, there'd be an enable/disable option for the Precise Locations of Missions in your options menus. Then there'd be a slider bar to choose how CLOSE you need to get before getting a precise fix on your destination. The slider bar would go from 50 ft up to 300 ft in 50 ft increments. The range on the slider bar would then determine the size of the bonus to Mission Complete rewards of Influence, Prestige and Experience.
50 ft = +10%
100 ft = +9%
150 ft = +8%
200 ft = +7%
250 ft = +6%
300 ft = +5%
The mission holder's settings determines the Precise Locations of Missions settings (enable/disable, range and complete bonus) for the entire team. While a team task is selected, the Precise Locations of Missions settings is "locked" ... meaning that this setting can only be adjusted when there is no team task (ie. mission) currently selected. Having no team task currently selected often happens automatically after returning (or cell phoning) a mission complete in to your contact.
I feel that this sort of addition would add a greater sense of enjoyment and realism into the CoX playing experience, because among other things it would encourage players to gain (more) familiarity with the local environments so as to recognize (more easily) landmarks and other features of the game ... rather than just doing the sort of GPS "A to B" movement plotting we so often engage in now, where the environment is merely scenery to get beyond ... and obstacle to be bypassed, on the way to the mission door (which we know the exact location of so long as we're in the zone).