educated guess: it wont be harder/easier to qualify for worlds than in previous years. Different yes, harder/easier, no.
Nationals: don't know. Play and enjoy, if you did well in the ratings last year I can see no reason why you would be excluded this year. But I'll end with DONT KNOW for nationals.
It is a transition year, Prof Dave has posted that it wont be perfect. Part of that means that announcements may be sparse, as the last thing OP will want is to be trapped by a premature announcement.