What's coming up this year for Blender's animation system? Aligorith gives a detailed roadmap on code.blender.org
Here is a selection of the most pressing “big ticket” animation related developments currently on my todo list. Do note that this is not an exhaustive list (for which there are many other items), but it does contain all the main things that I’m most aware of.
I have a LONG history with Blender - I wrote some of the earliest Blender tutorials, worked for Not a Number and helped run the crowdfunding campaign that open sourced Blender (the first one on the internet!). I founded BlenderNation in 2006 and have been editing it every single day since then ;-) I also run the Blender Artists forum and I'm Head of Community at Sketchfab.
