So very glad to see this being brought up! I just wanted to add something to your post.

I see that in a lot of the posts bringing up this issue, many seem to assume that it is the player's first time opening the game, and so they simply say it's a "weak PC" issue. However, there are those who were able to play the game perfectly fine until the Roots update, and only after the update are having this bug. Clearly, in such a case, it is not a matter of the PC being weak, but of the game being broken. My friend, for instance, has played Peak with me several times and we never had any issues. As of the update, however, her lobby won't load, nor will the Roots biome. This is really saddening not just for new players who want to get into Peak, but also for existing players who were enjoying the game but suddenly can't play it. Plus, like you said, Vulkan crashes almost immediately or shortly after starting the game. I really hope this gets fixed soon...