Regarding the forks, the hispeed damping is increased slightly via the midvalve so the clicker can be run in a softer position lowering the lowspeed damping and allowing the fork to pick up small bumps better. Also the rebound stack is now a 2 stage allowing for adequate hi speed damping without getting too much low speed, this keeps the fork from packing on chop and bracking bumps.
As for as the shock, the valving stacks look like 1998 all over again. Some other things have changed such as the bypass size, piston design, clicker design, and needle length. I am surprised to hear the needle is shorter this year than last as it was already very short and combine with the straight rate springs and softer 2ndary valving it seems bottoming would be a big problem.