That's rather interesting observation. I'd not thought of it. Of course, I've yet to get to:
-The Deep Grand Degasi Base is DIRECTLY beneath the Floater Island
and I'd thought it was farther north. Of course, I'd previously never gotten deep dive ability until I'd gotten to later in my gameplay, around visiting the Aurora, so I'd only done short dives beneath 200m. And I'd tended to tail off my play then. This game I found the Moonpool and now the Vehicle Upgrade Station (as well as the Stillsuit) and I've only gotten 2 of 9 Cyclops frags. Will have to push on and explore new regions.
That's rather interesting observation. I'd not thought of it. Of course, I've yet to get to:
-The Deep Grand Degasi Base is DIRECTLY beneath the Floater Island
and I'd thought it was farther north. Of course, I'd previously never gotten deep dive ability until I'd gotten to later in my gameplay, around visiting the Aurora, so I'd only done short dives beneath 200m. And I'd tended to tail off my play then. This game I found the Moonpool and now the Vehicle Upgrade Station (as well as the Stillsuit) and I've only gotten 2 of 9 Cyclops frags. Will have to push on and explore new regions.
The general area is beneath the island, not sure exactly how far off from the center though. The point is that all that stuff is crammed into a small area of the map leaving the rest of it seemingly just filler. So by removing the Aurora Entrance they're making the endgame even worse by forcing people to funnel through a single point, whether they care about the story or not.
When I'm playing, I often just repair the Aurora and then call it a day. I'd rather explore and build and survive, and enjoy the game like that. In a sense, the story is still pretty optional. The infection doesn't really do much (currently) so you can ignore it as long as you want - even when it reaches its critical point. I think that's a good thing. Like the urgency NPCs and the plot gives you in games like Fallout, you don't HAVE to go through with it. The story will alwyas be there, waiting, but no matter how urgently people tell you "Oh god we have to hurry! THis is important!!" the story - and the villains and the danger and everything else - will patiently wait as long as needed for you to finish your exploring and open world'ing.
However, Fallout also gives you a very large world to explore and doesn't deny much of it to you 'because story demands it'. There's gonna be some story-exclusive areas, and some that are locked off until a part of the story, but they don't cut out chunks of the wasteland for that reason either. Neither should Subnautica. If an area isn't critical to the story, don't cut it. Keep it. Optional areas to explore ARE a good thing.
Again though, that's on the assumption the two corridors were cut for that reason, but even if that's not the cause it still should be said anyway. A reminder that the genre Subnautica's labeled as benefits greatly from optional side-areas, and the more the better. More things to explore is never a bad thing, less things to explore always is.
"But not a lot of people visit it..." Well what about the NE Mountains, the Dunes, The Sea Treader's Path? I don't visit those areas much either.
"How many people would even find it there?" Every entrance doubles as an exit. Chances are people might find it in reverse - while exploring the ILZ Chamber. Either way, the Aurora's Entrance really should stay. I mean, I've been looking at it through the Scanner Room, and it's just... Amazing. Think about that thing all fully detailed!
Maybe maps should get its own thread/poll at this point. It sounds like there's a lot of interest in a proper mapping system, not just the post 1.0 craftable map the devs mentioned on Trello.
I do remember SimEarth. I don't remember much about the game other than the blocky graphics and the fact that it fit on a single 3.5" floppy, and that I usually ended up destroying everything.
Now I'm curious to see what happens if I put scanner rooms everywhere, especially over known caves. Good thing we have creative mode.
Personally speaking, I'd think the best way to handle the map issue is to, like the "track resources" module, have a map be one of the HUD upgrades that you unlock by building the scanner room, than assembling it from it's specialized fabricator. That way, you could at least get an on-board map of your immediate area so as to scout out everything nearby. Granted, one could say the drawback would be having to build more map station to scout/register more areas, but that in and of itself could be what encourages exploration and not just sitting /camping in one single base, having a few "lookout posts" or resource points to keep track of.
Granted, it's only a concept and I won't act like it's perfect, but I at least think it's a good starting point based on what's already in the game.
Maybe maps should get its own thread/poll at this point. It sounds like there's a lot of interest in a proper mapping system, not just the post 1.0 craftable map the devs mentioned on Trello.
I do remember SimEarth. I don't remember much about the game other than the blocky graphics and the fact that it fit on a single 3.5" floppy, and that I usually ended up destroying everything.
Now I'm curious to see what happens if I put scanner rooms everywhere, especially over known caves. Good thing we have creative mode.
Personally speaking, I'd think the best way to handle the map issue is to, like the "track resources" module, have a map be one of the HUD upgrades that you unlock by building the scanner room, than assembling it from it's specialized fabricator. That way, you could at least get an on-board map of your immediate area so as to scout out everything nearby. Granted, one could say the drawback would be having to build more map station to scout/register more areas, but that in and of itself could be what encourages exploration and not just sitting /camping in one single base, having a few "lookout posts" or resource points to keep track of.
Granted, it's only a concept and I won't act like it's perfect, but I at least think it's a good starting point based on what's already in the game.
Perhaps... Though mapping systems are likely something we'll be looking at more in-depth after the game's fully released. It'll be interesting to see what comes out of it though, I'm sure it'll be great! I mean the Scanner Room was amazing, and the new Cyclops tech is pretty cool too - so whatever they implement as a mapping system will probably be fantastic.
In the meantime, we should be looking at polishing what's already here. Tweaks on existing mechanics and such. As well as looking at making sure what's already here doesn't get tossed out *cough like the Aurora Corridor*
Well, as has been noted many times, it feels like UNW wants to try and limit people from just stumbling onto the ILZ and blitzing straight to the endgame. My issue with that is how a lot of games - Metroid Prime in the past and Zelda: Breath of the Wild more recently - have proven that you don't actually need to seal off areas behind other areas; you just have to balance things so that the inherent risks of it encourage to explore and level-up/evolve your gear until you can actually go to those places without dying.
This way, the "barrier" that limits you from using the Aurora Corridor feels (at least in my opinion) more realistic because it doesn't come across like you've been totally locked out/forced to take a spicific single path like with the "DGT to the LR to the ILZ" pathway in the south; it becomes more that you have to build up to a point where you can explore it safely. Besides, considering the devs are changing the Cyclops' "Pressure-Compensator MK II" recipe to require nickel (which is most abundantly found in the Lost River), you'll have to visit the Lost River before hitting the LZ's anyway.
As has been pointed out already, the devs seem to not really trust that players will want to explore the world of their own prerogative - they have to either bait us there with downed lifepods having necessary upgrades/blueprints or Precursor caches having the limited-resource ion crystals as opposed to us being curious about the lore of the planet. Another is how, according to the Trello, the cards "Optional Story Area 1" & "Optional Story Area 2" were moved to "Maybe after V1.0" - which points to them focusing more on central story rather than optional lore.
Well, as has been noted many times, it feels like UNW wants to try and limit people from just stumbling onto the ILZ and blitzing straight to the endgame. My issue with that is how a lot of games - Metroid Prime in the past and Zelda: Breath of the Wild more recently - have proven that you don't actually need to seal off areas behind other areas; you just have to balance things so that the inherent risks of it encourage to explore and level-up/evolve your gear until you can actually go to those places without dying.
This way, the "barrier" that limits you from using the Aurora Corridor feels (at least in my opinion) more realistic because it doesn't come across like you've been totally locked out/forced to take a spicific single path like with the "DGT to the LR to the ILZ" pathway in the south; it becomes more that you have to build up to a point where you can explore it safely. Besides, considering the devs are changing the Cyclops' "Pressure-Compensator MK II" recipe to require nickel (which is most abundantly found in the Lost River), you'll have to visit the Lost River before hitting the LZ's anyway.
As has been pointed out already, the devs seem to not really trust that players will want to explore the world of their own prerogative - they have to either bait us there with downed lifepods having necessary upgrades/blueprints or Precursor caches having the limited-resource ion crystals as opposed to us being curious about the lore of the planet. Another is how, according to the Trello, the cards "Optional Story Area 1" & "Optional Story Area 2" were moved to "Maybe after V1.0" - which points to them focusing more on central story rather than optional lore.
Yeah, which if that's the case they may as well stop advertising it as an Open World game.
One of the best things to me was finding an entrance to endgame content in an early game area. It's beyond your ability to handle it, maybe you can't technically reach the end just yet, but it's there. The Aurora entrance can't possibly be "teh E-zee ruote" because:
1. There's a reaper above it
2. The entrance itself is 400m down. It's not possible to even ENTER the thing without having gotten the Moonpool first, or beelining for the Exosuit (And UNW is perfectly okay with allowing the player to get the exosuit before the seamoth btw)
3. Even with this corridor unfinished, the ILZ's a thousand meters beneath the surface, beyond the limits of even the unupgraded exosuit.
4. Finished, it could be superhot down there and have hostile fauna or even a sea dragon in it.
5. On its own, it's already as long as the LostRiver path. Just on its own. It's that big.
Definitely sounds like a quick shortcut to me!
And once again, that should be the player's blinking choice if they want to speed along or not, and once more what about people not playing the game for the story?
If 'omg story' is really the defining factor in how the player is allowed to move about the planet, and yeah I've noticed what you said about having to stick a ton of things - usually with bright flashing beacons - around the planet to point at the important stuff like a game of connect the dots. It reminds me of some recent RPG's I've played, where the game sticks huge waypoints over everything to make sure you're progressing the way the game wants, and the only 'options' you really have are what equipment you want to use and what subquests you take up. Everything else you have to follow the straight path the game wants you to take - optional areas are even stuck behind invisible barriers until the plot deems it's time to visit them. At least the caches don't directly point you to them, and nobody's forcing you to use the comms relay (yet), but still.
Between this thread and my other thread, people have given plenty of ideas of how to keep the Aurora Entrance in without making it 'too easy' and how to keep it 'relevant to the story' if the game's really set on throwing everything else out the window for the sake of that story (I don't recall Subnautica being advertised as a Story-Driven linear progression game when I wishlisted it though), all UNW needs now is just to see that feedback and realize that there CAN BE MORE THAN ONE PATH HERE. I haven't seen/heard anything myself though :<
I can somewhat understand wanting the story to be the highlight for the 1.0 release, but Subnautica wasn't claiming to be that sort of game back when I found it nor when I finally bought it. Now rather than creating a beautiful and intricate world to explore, it's creating a world that's shaped and defined by a predetermined path to adhere to the story it wants to tell. At least that's how it feels like with some of these recent changes and plans. After 1.0 is anyone's guess, that might be where they focus on the optional stuff more. But I'd rather the Aurora entrance remain rather than be taken out in the meantime or at all. It can be the backdoor, it can have its OWN story stuff in it, there's so many reasons we can name why it'd be more beneficial to keep it than to remove it.
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While I think that what you're doing here is great, and I'm all for more entrances, I think you're going about it in the wrong way.
The reason they took out the entrances is for the new players, and as far as I know, you're not a new player. So the devs responding to a pro player trying to get the entrances back, could come off as just someone stubborn who doesn't want it to change.
Now, what we need here is some new players. Some brand new people who have yet to find the ILZ, have them find it, and then see what they think. Or, probably the most effective thing to do, is drive a poll like this to new players, and get their feedback on this.
If the new players don't like it, the devs will see that the main reason for changing it, doesn't like it. That will get them to change their minds faster than anything else will.
But anyways, keep up the good work @Rezca. Keep fighting the good fight.
While I think that what you're doing here is great, and I'm all for more entrances, I think you're going about it in the wrong way.
The reason they took out the entrances is for the new players, and as far as I know, you're not a new player. So the devs responding to a pro player trying to get the entrances back, could come off as just someone stubborn who doesn't want it to change.
Now, what we need here is some new players. Some brand new people who have yet to find the ILZ, have them find it, and then see what they think. Or, probably the most effective thing to do, is drive a poll like this to new players, and get their feedback on this.
If the new players don't like it, the devs will see that the main reason for changing it, doesn't like it. That will get them to change their minds faster than anything else will.
But anyways, keep up the good work @Rezca. Keep fighting the good fight.
Since the ILZ is considered endgame content, I think that the players who have been at it for a while should also be kept in mind for this. In the very early game for those who might not know how to proceed, the new players should really be the priority. Nothing's more frustrating than jumping into a potentially exciting game and then flailing about like a fish out of water so to speak, and not accomplishing anything. That's where the Comms Relay and beacons come into play - and the Sunbeam too I guess - but when it comes to these later parts of the game, you will generally have enough experience under your belt to be exploring the game on your own without guidance from the game. Then on your following playthroughs, you'll be looking at approaching the game differently than on your initial ones.
Right now if we asked people who haven't found it yet what they'd think, they've only really got the Lost River's entrance to go by since the Dunes entrance got sealed up - unless they watched Markiplier's videos then they wouldn't even know about it. The Aurora entrance is pitch black as it's lacking its own lighting, and most people who've found that one - so far any way - seem to have found it in reverse, having it be an exit point from the ILZ Chamber rather than an entry point.
We can't fully exclude an entire section of the playerbase when making decisions like this. It's not just Subnautica, but any game really. Everyone has to be included when thinking about these things, and has to be considered when making these choices. Nobody should be left out or given priority over others when giving their opinions.
That's why I think a compromise could be that the Lost River is considered the 'simple' way in, and the Aurora would be the 'off the beaten path' entrance. The game directs you to the Lost River, subtly at first, so it'd be a new player's first way in unless they - like I was - went out and explored on their own (Not that I had much choice at the time, since the Comms Relay didn't have all those beacons back then) and found it by chance. That way people who've played the game a bit will have the ability to choose, and new players could stumble upon it themselves while exploring the ILZ Chamber.
Honestly, having all 3 makes it cool when you're right on the edge after having found the Lost River... you're looking for the way you came... almost out of power... you're heading upwards, but nothing looks familiar.. and now you're in the middle of someplace else entirely, having exited the great chambers of the deep. It's actually kind of jaw-dropping to realize just how big, cavernous, interconnected, and omnipresent the cave systems are. To include the JellyShroom caves when you realize there's more than one entrance.
Honestly, having all 3 makes it cool when you're right on the edge after having found the Lost River... you're looking for the way you came... almost out of power... you're heading upwards, but nothing looks familiar.. and now you're in the middle of someplace else entirely, having exited the great chambers of the deep. It's actually kind of jaw-dropping to realize just how big, cavernous, interconnected, and omnipresent the cave systems are. To include the JellyShroom caves when you realize there's more than one entrance.
My thoughts exactly; when you realize this place is sprawling across the ENTIRE MAP it gives it a grand sense of scale and makes it fittingly intimidating for what it is. The freedom of choice aside, it provides so many more experiences than a single entrance ever could give.
So far one person in the Discord agreed having the Aurora entrance be there as a result of the explosion would be a cool idea, and to be honest I originally thought that was intentional. See, back when I first played this game... Before battery chargers were a thing and Floodlights were only JUST added into experimental... I didn't know about the other two entrances. I thought you were intended to dive down below the Aurora after it blew its top, and that the opening was revealed as a result of the explosion.
So having the cave shaken loose and revealed by it would not only make sense, it'd be a pretty cool side-effect of what would otherwise just be some cool eyecandy. Maybe they should delay the explosion a bit, to give you time to search around for things like the random Seamoth fragments and just kinda have this feeling of uncertainty as to when that ticking bomb is going to go off. Not that it'd really matter anyway since you likely wouldn't be approaching that area when its bathed in radioactivity heh. But.... Maybe the AI could mention something about the explosion... If not right away, but at some later date. Maybe while exploring the Aurora it could mention something that'd imply "There's something down there".
Then you go down, braving the reaper and the dark depths, and find scrap metal... Resources... And a terrifying opening into the depths. But it's beyond your ability. You can't go deeper in. You just know... That it's there. And somewhere deep inside, no matter how afraid you might be, somewhere inside you want to know what's inside. It'll be there at the back of your mind until you get the Cyclops and then head down. But even then, you only get a little inside the mouth of it before the cyclops warns you that you can't continue. But it just keeps going deeper.
That's not a feeling you can get out of the Lost River to be honest, but the Lost River provides a sensation that the Aurora doesn't either. They both give very different experiences, and both of them add so much to the game for new players and veterans alike. This variety is what adds so much to these kinds of games, and is one reason why the Aurora's abyssal entrance is so valuable even in its unfinished raw state.
Well got the attention on Discord, more or less received an unfavorable answer. Unless many others also bring it up, I'm pretty sure that this effort's wasted. "Variety isn't always a good thing" "The Lost River is too imporant to allow people to bypass it"...
No use in continuing to push for salvaging this area anymore, the decision's sealed
A vague 'maybe after 1.0' can be implied, but I've pretty much lost hope at this point.
Comments
and I'd thought it was farther north. Of course, I'd previously never gotten deep dive ability until I'd gotten to later in my gameplay, around visiting the Aurora, so I'd only done short dives beneath 200m. And I'd tended to tail off my play then. This game I found the Moonpool and now the Vehicle Upgrade Station (as well as the Stillsuit) and I've only gotten 2 of 9 Cyclops frags. Will have to push on and explore new regions.
The general area is beneath the island, not sure exactly how far off from the center though. The point is that all that stuff is crammed into a small area of the map leaving the rest of it seemingly just filler. So by removing the Aurora Entrance they're making the endgame even worse by forcing people to funnel through a single point, whether they care about the story or not.
When I'm playing, I often just repair the Aurora and then call it a day. I'd rather explore and build and survive, and enjoy the game like that. In a sense, the story is still pretty optional. The infection doesn't really do much (currently) so you can ignore it as long as you want - even when it reaches its critical point. I think that's a good thing. Like the urgency NPCs and the plot gives you in games like Fallout, you don't HAVE to go through with it. The story will alwyas be there, waiting, but no matter how urgently people tell you "Oh god we have to hurry! THis is important!!" the story - and the villains and the danger and everything else - will patiently wait as long as needed for you to finish your exploring and open world'ing.
However, Fallout also gives you a very large world to explore and doesn't deny much of it to you 'because story demands it'. There's gonna be some story-exclusive areas, and some that are locked off until a part of the story, but they don't cut out chunks of the wasteland for that reason either. Neither should Subnautica. If an area isn't critical to the story, don't cut it. Keep it. Optional areas to explore ARE a good thing.
Again though, that's on the assumption the two corridors were cut for that reason, but even if that's not the cause it still should be said anyway. A reminder that the genre Subnautica's labeled as benefits greatly from optional side-areas, and the more the better. More things to explore is never a bad thing, less things to explore always is.
"But not a lot of people visit it..." Well what about the NE Mountains, the Dunes, The Sea Treader's Path? I don't visit those areas much either.
"How many people would even find it there?" Every entrance doubles as an exit. Chances are people might find it in reverse - while exploring the ILZ Chamber. Either way, the Aurora's Entrance really should stay. I mean, I've been looking at it through the Scanner Room, and it's just... Amazing. Think about that thing all fully detailed!
Personally speaking, I'd think the best way to handle the map issue is to, like the "track resources" module, have a map be one of the HUD upgrades that you unlock by building the scanner room, than assembling it from it's specialized fabricator. That way, you could at least get an on-board map of your immediate area so as to scout out everything nearby. Granted, one could say the drawback would be having to build more map station to scout/register more areas, but that in and of itself could be what encourages exploration and not just sitting /camping in one single base, having a few "lookout posts" or resource points to keep track of.
Granted, it's only a concept and I won't act like it's perfect, but I at least think it's a good starting point based on what's already in the game.
Perhaps... Though mapping systems are likely something we'll be looking at more in-depth after the game's fully released. It'll be interesting to see what comes out of it though, I'm sure it'll be great! I mean the Scanner Room was amazing, and the new Cyclops tech is pretty cool too - so whatever they implement as a mapping system will probably be fantastic.
In the meantime, we should be looking at polishing what's already here. Tweaks on existing mechanics and such. As well as looking at making sure what's already here doesn't get tossed out *cough like the Aurora Corridor*
This way, the "barrier" that limits you from using the Aurora Corridor feels (at least in my opinion) more realistic because it doesn't come across like you've been totally locked out/forced to take a spicific single path like with the "DGT to the LR to the ILZ" pathway in the south; it becomes more that you have to build up to a point where you can explore it safely. Besides, considering the devs are changing the Cyclops' "Pressure-Compensator MK II" recipe to require nickel (which is most abundantly found in the Lost River), you'll have to visit the Lost River before hitting the LZ's anyway.
As has been pointed out already, the devs seem to not really trust that players will want to explore the world of their own prerogative - they have to either bait us there with downed lifepods having necessary upgrades/blueprints or Precursor caches having the limited-resource ion crystals as opposed to us being curious about the lore of the planet. Another is how, according to the Trello, the cards "Optional Story Area 1" & "Optional Story Area 2" were moved to "Maybe after V1.0" - which points to them focusing more on central story rather than optional lore.
Yeah, which if that's the case they may as well stop advertising it as an Open World game.
One of the best things to me was finding an entrance to endgame content in an early game area. It's beyond your ability to handle it, maybe you can't technically reach the end just yet, but it's there. The Aurora entrance can't possibly be "teh E-zee ruote" because:
1. There's a reaper above it
2. The entrance itself is 400m down. It's not possible to even ENTER the thing without having gotten the Moonpool first, or beelining for the Exosuit (And UNW is perfectly okay with allowing the player to get the exosuit before the seamoth btw)
3. Even with this corridor unfinished, the ILZ's a thousand meters beneath the surface, beyond the limits of even the unupgraded exosuit.
4. Finished, it could be superhot down there and have hostile fauna or even a sea dragon in it.
5. On its own, it's already as long as the LostRiver path. Just on its own. It's that big.
Definitely sounds like a quick shortcut to me!
And once again, that should be the player's blinking choice if they want to speed along or not, and once more what about people not playing the game for the story?
If 'omg story' is really the defining factor in how the player is allowed to move about the planet, and yeah I've noticed what you said about having to stick a ton of things - usually with bright flashing beacons - around the planet to point at the important stuff like a game of connect the dots. It reminds me of some recent RPG's I've played, where the game sticks huge waypoints over everything to make sure you're progressing the way the game wants, and the only 'options' you really have are what equipment you want to use and what subquests you take up. Everything else you have to follow the straight path the game wants you to take - optional areas are even stuck behind invisible barriers until the plot deems it's time to visit them. At least the caches don't directly point you to them, and nobody's forcing you to use the comms relay (yet), but still.
Between this thread and my other thread, people have given plenty of ideas of how to keep the Aurora Entrance in without making it 'too easy' and how to keep it 'relevant to the story' if the game's really set on throwing everything else out the window for the sake of that story (I don't recall Subnautica being advertised as a Story-Driven linear progression game when I wishlisted it though), all UNW needs now is just to see that feedback and realize that there CAN BE MORE THAN ONE PATH HERE. I haven't seen/heard anything myself though :<
I can somewhat understand wanting the story to be the highlight for the 1.0 release, but Subnautica wasn't claiming to be that sort of game back when I found it nor when I finally bought it. Now rather than creating a beautiful and intricate world to explore, it's creating a world that's shaped and defined by a predetermined path to adhere to the story it wants to tell. At least that's how it feels like with some of these recent changes and plans. After 1.0 is anyone's guess, that might be where they focus on the optional stuff more. But I'd rather the Aurora entrance remain rather than be taken out in the meantime or at all. It can be the backdoor, it can have its OWN story stuff in it, there's so many reasons we can name why it'd be more beneficial to keep it than to remove it.
The reason they took out the entrances is for the new players, and as far as I know, you're not a new player. So the devs responding to a pro player trying to get the entrances back, could come off as just someone stubborn who doesn't want it to change.
Now, what we need here is some new players. Some brand new people who have yet to find the ILZ, have them find it, and then see what they think. Or, probably the most effective thing to do, is drive a poll like this to new players, and get their feedback on this.
If the new players don't like it, the devs will see that the main reason for changing it, doesn't like it. That will get them to change their minds faster than anything else will.
But anyways, keep up the good work @Rezca. Keep fighting the good fight.
Since the ILZ is considered endgame content, I think that the players who have been at it for a while should also be kept in mind for this. In the very early game for those who might not know how to proceed, the new players should really be the priority. Nothing's more frustrating than jumping into a potentially exciting game and then flailing about like a fish out of water so to speak, and not accomplishing anything. That's where the Comms Relay and beacons come into play - and the Sunbeam too I guess - but when it comes to these later parts of the game, you will generally have enough experience under your belt to be exploring the game on your own without guidance from the game. Then on your following playthroughs, you'll be looking at approaching the game differently than on your initial ones.
Right now if we asked people who haven't found it yet what they'd think, they've only really got the Lost River's entrance to go by since the Dunes entrance got sealed up - unless they watched Markiplier's videos then they wouldn't even know about it. The Aurora entrance is pitch black as it's lacking its own lighting, and most people who've found that one - so far any way - seem to have found it in reverse, having it be an exit point from the ILZ Chamber rather than an entry point.
We can't fully exclude an entire section of the playerbase when making decisions like this. It's not just Subnautica, but any game really. Everyone has to be included when thinking about these things, and has to be considered when making these choices. Nobody should be left out or given priority over others when giving their opinions.
That's why I think a compromise could be that the Lost River is considered the 'simple' way in, and the Aurora would be the 'off the beaten path' entrance. The game directs you to the Lost River, subtly at first, so it'd be a new player's first way in unless they - like I was - went out and explored on their own (Not that I had much choice at the time, since the Comms Relay didn't have all those beacons back then) and found it by chance. That way people who've played the game a bit will have the ability to choose, and new players could stumble upon it themselves while exploring the ILZ Chamber.
My thoughts exactly; when you realize this place is sprawling across the ENTIRE MAP it gives it a grand sense of scale and makes it fittingly intimidating for what it is. The freedom of choice aside, it provides so many more experiences than a single entrance ever could give.
So far one person in the Discord agreed having the Aurora entrance be there as a result of the explosion would be a cool idea, and to be honest I originally thought that was intentional. See, back when I first played this game... Before battery chargers were a thing and Floodlights were only JUST added into experimental... I didn't know about the other two entrances. I thought you were intended to dive down below the Aurora after it blew its top, and that the opening was revealed as a result of the explosion.
So having the cave shaken loose and revealed by it would not only make sense, it'd be a pretty cool side-effect of what would otherwise just be some cool eyecandy. Maybe they should delay the explosion a bit, to give you time to search around for things like the random Seamoth fragments and just kinda have this feeling of uncertainty as to when that ticking bomb is going to go off. Not that it'd really matter anyway since you likely wouldn't be approaching that area when its bathed in radioactivity heh. But.... Maybe the AI could mention something about the explosion... If not right away, but at some later date. Maybe while exploring the Aurora it could mention something that'd imply "There's something down there".
Then you go down, braving the reaper and the dark depths, and find scrap metal... Resources... And a terrifying opening into the depths. But it's beyond your ability. You can't go deeper in. You just know... That it's there. And somewhere deep inside, no matter how afraid you might be, somewhere inside you want to know what's inside. It'll be there at the back of your mind until you get the Cyclops and then head down. But even then, you only get a little inside the mouth of it before the cyclops warns you that you can't continue. But it just keeps going deeper.
That's not a feeling you can get out of the Lost River to be honest, but the Lost River provides a sensation that the Aurora doesn't either. They both give very different experiences, and both of them add so much to the game for new players and veterans alike. This variety is what adds so much to these kinds of games, and is one reason why the Aurora's abyssal entrance is so valuable even in its unfinished raw state.
No use in continuing to push for salvaging this area anymore, the decision's sealed
A vague 'maybe after 1.0' can be implied, but I've pretty much lost hope at this point.
Now I don't use discord :)
That was coming from one of the developers.
I've requested a thread lock, since these threads no longer serve any purpose. We got our answer, it's not going to change.