i haven't looked it over enough to talk about optional rules. i haven't seen any yet.

as for the magic items they are just going back to the 2nd ed. mindset. its not necessarily that they want items to be super rare but more that they should be more meaningful. rather than having a pile of magical items around to sell or having different gear for different situations, the magic items you find should be important to your character and possibly even a part of who that character is.