If you go to Sony's EQlive web page, they've got a news discussing briefly on the new gui update.. And more screenshots.. The spellbook and pet stuff looks good.. More windows to deal w/. And the ability finally to create a window that only shows the tells to me (which I usually can miss when in combat -- and I think you can minimize it, so that after combat, I can check it and not have to peer through large amounts of combat stuff.

And, for pets.. no longer have to make hotkeys.. It'll have it's own windows.. Not only that.. But those w/ pets, their HP bar will be split.. Showing Red on top half and Yellow on bottom half.. The red will be your hp and the yellow will be you're pet's hp (no more need for /pet health).

For skills, not only will they list the rank, but they'll also list the # of what the skill is at.. (Ex. Tailor <ranK> 111)
As for how this will affect macroquest. May or may not break it for a bit till everything gets figured out.