As I was coming up with the suggestions I was having the very same concerns. I believe how characters grow is in fact a big problem in Genesis and many of my suggestions would make growth easier which would not be a positive effect. That problem is easily solved however and when it gets bad enough there will be no choice but to solve it. The 'solutions' have been discussed in depth previously and I don't think I want to be the one to bring them up again...

Changes like what I and Gorboth have suggested make the game much more playable for new players and I really don't think we can go wrong with that.