@Alan: I cannot agree with point 4), take 30 min and read through the first 4 Shader Workshops, shaders are easy to use in gamestudio IMO.

I don't think that they should spend much time on MED, too, there are great and popular tools with a lot of tutorials and stuff such as Blender, Wings3D and or the like. MED is good at basic modelling (now that the extrude bug is fixed) and especially at importing and preparing models for in-game usage.
They should rather spend the time they have on the engine so it becomes better and better.

One (big) thing for A8 that I would like to see (maybe in 2011?):
Combine WED and GED, that means if you maximize the 3D view in WED the editor will behave like GED does now but you are able to modify blocks, too.
You can click on objects, press a button to start their action immediately to check if you set up everything right (platforms, ...) and return to edit mode by pressing the same button again. Materials can be globally switched on, too. Basically, a WYSIWYG editor.
As a result (of the required structure), the developer(s) could implement a Geo-Mod feature for models and blocks, one of the most underestimated features of gaming history.

Furthermore there could be a box/region that you drag with which you determine the area that has to be rebuild, only box/groups and lights touching it get updated by the build process. This reduces building time a lot when you are tuning your level or expanding it.

Just my 2 cents.

EDIT: If somehow possible speed up block rendering would be great (esp. with shaders).