Suggestion for Key addon changes
I have heard many people express negativity towards keys and how they currently work, so I thought I would offer a suggestion / thoughts on a different use for the key.
Keys are clearly meant to open things so I think they should keep a relationship with the Hatch. Keys are a powerful escape tool that allows a player to exit the match, and perhaps the negativity towards keys is because a portion of players feel that they are too cut-and-dry, too straightforward to use for the ability to simply walk away unscathed.
The first part of this suggestion is that instead of one Hatch spawning around the map each round - there are now two Hatches in different locations on the map. Whether a survivor is holding a Key addon or not, now every map has two Hatches, but only one of the Hatches works without using the Key.
One Hatch functions exactly the same as it does now - it is locked and unusable by all survivors until there is only 1 living survivor left on the map. When only one survivor remains, this Hatch will open up and be available to help that survivor escape. I call this "Hatch A".
The second Hatch is completely locked out all match. Whether there are 4 survivors alive or only one survivor alive, this Hatch remains locked and unusable - and is clearly covered in chains and padlocks to let survivors know that this is the 'locked out' Hatch. I call this Hatch "Hatch B"
The Key no longer unlocks the Hatch early, and no longer makes the Hatch usable to survivors before it opens. The Key will effectively lose all interaction with "Hatch A" - you can not use the key on "Hatch A" and you do not need to. The Key will be usable on "Hatch B" at any stage in the match - causing "Hatch B" to become unlocked and ready to use when there is only one survivor remaining.
What this would mean is that essentially bringing a key into a game will make it so that when only one survivor remains on the map, they have two hatches open and ready to escape with - as long as the Key carrier has used their key to unlock "Hatch B". This should increase the chances for a sole survivor to escape, and make it harder for the killer to stop them.
The key will contribute towards the survival and ability to escape the killer, but it will now no longer be as powerful. Instead of letting survivors simply walk away from the match early, it causes the Killer to have to watch out for two possible escape routes, very similar to how there are two exit gates. The hatches will now only ever be useful when only one survivor is alive, and neither of them can be interacted with in any other way.
Without using the key, the last remaining survivor may be 'baited' by "Hatch B" as it will still be locked at the end of the round, so even though they may see a Hatch in the distance, it could be unusable, as they don't know that their team used a key to unlock it.
This could cause some fun endgame mind games and also reinforces a 2nd reason to bring a Key even though it's been nerfed/changed. Not only do you want a key to increase the likelihood that at least someone, or yourself, may escape using the hatch if the killer decimates your team - but you also want to bring it to avoid a situation where the locked Hatch B causes a player to get caught out and die at the end.
A problem I immediately see with this suggestion is that the Key is no longer as attractive an addon because in most cases it can only be used to save someone else, while not always being useful to save yourself. This might feel bad for survivor players to pick an addon that usually is only useful for another player to get points, but not them.
Perhaps for the reason of it helping the last remaining survivor so much - using the Key and successfully opening Hatch B could contribute lots of points towards Lightbring, Benevolent or even maybe Evader emblems. There may also be bonus points for successfully using the Key to unlock Hatch B within the Killer's Terror Radius, while injured, or other things similar to this. Perhaps if a key is used to open Hatch B, and then the match ends with a player escaping out of Hatch B (or even either of the two Hatches), the player who opened the Hatch with their key gains a large bonus to bloodpoints even if they die or are sacrificed.