I admit, I also struggled with "In from the Cold". The reason we all struggled was because we were NEVER conditioned that MSQ could hide an item away like that. It is out of the norms.
If I was to drop you into the middle of a Sydney city block, tell you to find one injured man with a key and then some fuel, the VERY FIRST question you would ask me is "where do I start". The fact you have to find the man FIRST was also silly, I found the damned armour first and the game wouldnt let me take the fuel canister out. That was IMO dumb.

Throughout our lives, an item to click in MSQ is always presented 5 feet away from our faces, in plain view.
Never said that. Said a marker or at least general idea of WHERE to start looking was a good idea.

But now, if, for example, in 7.0, they decided to introduce a similar quest with similar mechanics like this, we all would know what to do and what to expect. It wouldn't be out of the norms. Basically, as a community, we've gotten tougher, albeit slightly.
In all truth I did enjoy it, but to an extent the design itself needed work before release. Even a wide red circle ( which has been seen before ) would have been be a useful clue...either that or kill / extend the damned timer.