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From my point of view the mission timer as it is right now is a design fail for MANY reasons.
I could explain in more detail but people seem to don't like well thought texts ("wall of text") so I will try to be short. Let me just say that there also is a lot I like about this game otherwise I would not care.
Fail 1: The timer sets a time frame in real hours in your real life and ticks if you play or not. A 7 day timer can translate to 100+ hours or just 10. Depending on your real life. What is the balance there ?
Fail 2a: Because of fail 1 the time is not balanced to the mission. If you happen to have enough time to play its no way near a challenge. It does not add any pressure or feel of urgency while playing.
Fail 2b: On the other hand it adds pressure to your RL. Started a mission with 6 hours timer in an after work session? Then RL happened after 1 hour - well - you need to stay up late just to sqeeze in another gaming session to finish that mission and not loose the progress, potentially the character and items you grinded a long time for (workshop items). Just tell your whife she will sleep alone tonight - she will understand - right ?
Fail 3: It punishes solo play. 5 people get the same time frame. What is the balance there ?
Fail 4: It hinders group play. Finding time slots to play together is hard enough. But now you need to find them often enough and long enough in that timeframe the mission timer sets in your real life if you want to complete missions.
Fail 5: There are no reasons for it. It does not fit game lore (because mission timers would need to come and go and the timers would need to be ticking even before you start them). It's no PVP game and no MMO. So just why ? If it is for house keeping then just delete inactive prospects after 14 days...
TLDR: The mission timer as is is a burdon to real life only. Tries to encourage you to arrange your real life around this game by not only rewarding you for doing so but punishing you for not doing it (which is why I would never let childrens play it) and fails to provide any challenge or value IN the game while playing it (because its too long for that for all missions - that's if you have time to play).
Who on earth can defend that approach ? What are the reasons? There seem to be people that feel like something would be taken away from them if the timer was pausing while people are not playing (and then better adjusted to the actual play time required for missions). I've yet so see one valid reason why it would hurt anyone...
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