I agree with much of this list - skill book prices could be halved and they'd probably be in an alright place with the amount of gold we get.
Also, the new AI makes the Arena fight way more unfair than it previously was.
I haven't found the arena fight to be that bad in either of my playthroughs, but then again I feel thats a failing of this patch. Certain builds and play styles will barley struggle ever, and others will struggle all the time.