There was a time where PZ never appealed to me when I used to play it with my ex years ago but now coming back to it and playing with my friends has made me spend so many hours on it and has made it one of my favorites along games like rimworld. So here are some things that I would like to suggest.
Enhanced cooking
There are lot of ingredients, condiments, meat etc in the game but not many dishes to make. Would be nice if you can make things like pizza among other stuff(including some fancy dishes).
Buff and Debuff System
A system that give you temporary buffs and debuffs. whether you are eating a food that energizes you so you don't become fatigued more quickly or drinking whiskey/bourbon to reduce the speed of becoming cold in winter, this will go hand in hand with my enhanced cooking suggestion so different food/drinks can do different things for you. on a side note, a goofy thing I thought of was players could play with the rubix cube and it has an RNG element to it where there's a low chance of solving it and when you do you get a nice little buff from it and if you fail then you get a debuff so kind of like a risk vs reward kind of thing lol.
Lower infection but greater combat
I know there are settings that can do this but hear me out, one of the things that quickly annoyed me was how easily you can get infected. The main thing that can damage you is zombies & every other element can be avoided very easily like wearing boots, removing glass before going through window etc. But the problem was that you don't want to get hit by zombies at all because there's a chance to get infected by even a scratch. This also makes the first aid skill quite useless because whats the point of leveling if any wound from zombies can be potential infection. I know that if you lower the infection side of things, you will take away the challenge but the challenge can be replaced in more of combat/Health managing form by giving zombies a couple of abilities like leaping, having special types of zombies, maybe something dangerous that spawns at night and despawns when its morning. This way you maintain the challenge level but in a less annoying way and you don't have to remove infection just simply make it bite only like in the settings and there can be ways they can get bite on you like if they successfully leap on you.
This would mean you would also have to give players the ability to block with weapons & dodge. So Its a huge rework of how combat and zombies would work but I think that in the end it will be a more fun, active & intense experience.
Separate sickness from the infected Moodlet
Would be nice to at least get an option to separate these two things because its an annoyance when trying to guess why you are queasy.
Better Foraging & the environment
Foraging should keep its search style but also there needs to be bushes, trees etc that you can simply right click and pick from. Better skill in foraging would mean better speed at picking them and less chance of picking rotten stuff. So I would love to see more visual side of things for foraging like trees, bushes, plants etc. These can also help the map feel more in-depth.
Furniture and other appliances interaction & animations
It would be nice to be able to sit on couch & chairs, lay down in bed etc. It would also be nice to be able to take a bath/shower (with animations) using the bathtubs/showers. The difference between washing yourself from sink vs bathtub/showers can be the speed and amount of water used. So washing from sink is slow but uses less water but bathing in tub or showering is faster but uses more water. Never underestimate the power of animations π.
For PVP: Ability to Play Dead
Ability to play dead can be a good survival strategy for PVP. I don't play PVP but I'm sure it would be a great addition to it. And if players are close enough, you can trip them over by swiping at their feet lol.
That is all for now, I have a lot more for NPCs and Animals but will wait until they are released before I suggest things relating to it. Sorry if this was a lot. Thank you & Goodluck!π