Jeb mentioned a number of upcoming 1.9 spoilers earlier, mostly revolving around combat. Some changes (swords are faster) are clear, while others (axes are "different") are not. One exciting change mentioned is firing bows from the off-hand, giving left-handed characters the right feel. It wasn't mentioned whether bows would be dual-wieldable, but it seems unlikely.
Jeb went on to say that "Regeneration II and Regeneration V were a bit excessive" for golden apples, though no clear solution was at hand. The two obvious choices - nerf the apples themselves, or make gold harder to come by - were both difficult to implement fairly, and it is still being considered.