The sell price of holy water is also uncapped now. [Drug]+ used to give +2 corruption per dose, ogre/giant bone used to be a +3 DEF with no +5 hp, and goblin teeth used to only give +1ATK/+1 MATK.
That said, the game could do with another opportunity for Aura to earn some college money. Maybe if there was another novice-level monster-hunting quest with a non-lewd opportunity for star metal. Or perhaps the winged pig thief quest should give double the gold if she solves it without Charlotte...
With the v0.32.0 update, it looks like mount Firestorm is to be a post-Winterfall area. The increased number of bosses also means more breathing room to new game+ air bubble I on pure nightmare runs. Between Winterfall gold and the golem quest, the gold issue is greatly ameliorated.
Coming back to the points, they're reaching a level where picking expensive skills just to save on gold later in the run is starting to become appealing. It could be good for build variety if the non-skill clear room gems had a +4 state and/or if there were gems for stuff like ally stats and starting blessed waters.
Coming back to this, I just think the clear room needs revisited in general. The point balance on skills, items, money etc is all incredibly unbalanced even if you are taking part. A very simple example is that fire costs like 8 points. It's a spell you learn for free within the first week of the game. Meanwhile light, is what, 3 points and saves you 100 gold on top of the same day. Anything fire gates is irrelevant and not worth the extra 5 points unless you've had a like, seriously successfully nightmare run.
While I don't exactly disagree with your overall point, fire I vs light I is arguably one of the better balanced parts of new game+, with the former being cheaper to cast, having more base power, being useful out of combat, and being gated behind Charlotte not being in jail(+1 day, 400 gold, lewds, or a 14 day wait) whereas deliver medicine is basically a freebie and light I is mostly useful for advantage.
Fire I also gates workshop level 5 if you have access to the refugee camp, which can translate to an extra ally level when clearing the Northern mine vault and festival of greed. This mostly impacts lower difficulties and early parts of the game where allies are quick to level.
More egregious are horror I and radiance I. The first only costs 10 points in new game+, is practically unobtainable during pure runs, and gives you a low-mana way to trip up enemy casters for defensive builds. The second costs 35 points, is pretty much unusable in chapter 1 due to its mana cost, and mainly serves to save(an admittedly large sum of) money unless you very specifically intend to chug another energy potion or two on Belphegor.
Another thing is the stat crystals having the same cost for all three stages. Changing something like a 5/5/5 cost of ATK/MATK to a 4/5/6 for +1/+2/+3 would increase the temptation for higher-score players to downgrade starting bonus stats for the sake of a skill pick, make the weaker tiers more accessible for low-score players who need that boost the most, and brings it more in line with the chapter 1 experience of escalating workshop prices.
Those are fair points. Can't really argue much. I still think the fire vs light cost is imbalanced, because I (personally) cannot justify leaving Charlotte in jail whether I had ng+'d fire or not. I genuinely despise her losing exp in jail, so I never leave her there. Pure, I chill with her in the bar, pink, I'll just do the scene ofc, 1 point isn't a big deal. In the grand scheme, neither is 14 points...but still. It could be the difference in a level.
Just a personal view there.
