In my first day playing this version, I explored Port Town a bit (the new bank, sword giver, beds, etc) and asked for Badspot's castle. On the way to his castle I found a treasure chest - 3000 gp for an 1 hour player.
After a few minutes I went to the Log Challange, and on my way, under the log bridge, I found another treasure chest - 1000 gp in it, total luck!
The last 2 were exacly the same but the opposite - I took the gold hook with a new account and went back to port town (through the SW way, not the bridge) and saw a treasure chest on the way. I don't know why but I went to Badspot's castle few minutes after that, and guess what I found.
I earned 8k gp by total luck, no skills needed, and basaclly I have a huge advantage above other players without doing anything that realy mattars!
So miked is right, the money thing should be changed. I don't care about going back to the muling age. How about making the prices lower (not 5k to lvl2 but 500) but repeatable? So people won't need new accounts to make the challange again.