I had some ideas in mind as well, but today Im too lazy to write or think about them
Anyway - slight adjustment - buying a new weapon/shield/armor only support your idea about not good ratio of effort>effect, because the time, when you really need a new equipment is really low, not to mention top players most likely spend AS on them so they wait for certain stuff.
The miniquest of healing potions is good, only with one important glich - if you will have to always drink 25x higher level poition, you have 50% chance this would be actually potion for AS. In that case, you would in fact need to spend 50AS to complete it, which is not really convenient, even for premium players I think. (Tha same of coarse with mana potions). I suggest there is "Drink 25 healing/mana potions of level minimum (Your level-10). That way, you will be able to reach the lower SE potion, or already reach higher SE potion, coz they go after 20lvls intervals.
Train a new pet should be probably also scaled according to ToD, e.g. 1/3/5 (4x4/5x5/6x6).
Nevertheless, good ideas, and I think they should put some incentives to players to actually brainstorm ideas for Beholder, vote for them, etc., and even e.g. put some rewards if your idea is selected or implemented succesfully.