About the container issue" I'd like to see the combination of three factors:
1) There should be less containers in general. Period.
2) Merging some of them in a single lootable entity is not a bad idea at all if technically feasible for Larian.
3) The "highlight key" (currently ALT, by default) should highlight lootable containers in the area that aren't empty. I honestly don't care if "it spoils the surprise" if you didn't check them already. It's one of these cases where preserving the pacing of the experience and reducing the amount of inventory busywork would be immensely beneficial to the experience, in general.
About the economy in general, I won't go into minute detail of any tweaking necessary, but as a general rule, Larian should avoid the massive sense of inflation of their previous games. It's fine that the party gets richer over time and can afford extremely expensive stuff later in the game, but the sense should be of general consistency. For instance it's perfectly acceptable to see a merchant list from the very beginning something way too expensive for our possibilities, but have that thing maintain the same price across the entire game.
Also, as persona preferences: merchants inventory should be static (let them have a certain amount of generic replenish-able items, a set and finite amount of "unique goodies" and that's it. Any possible "refresh" over that, if really necessary, should be pre-determined at certain points in the story, not randomized at regular intervals.
Another personal preference: I'd rather see a merchant inventory being something "virtualized" so we could cut down the exploitability of pickpocketing to break the economy. Ideally pickpocketing should work like it did in BG2 and other Infinity Engine titles: instead of having full access to whatever a merchant or NPC is selling/you sold him, trying to pickpocket him should translate in checking his (separate) "pocket inventory" where one or two valuables of choices are the options (i.e. an unique magic ring, a key to a locked chest/room with an additional treasure, etc).
