I've read through the topic and replies of all the members, here is my POV on this experiment.
1. Increasing Gold capacity is a notch in the right direction, i feel like the gold/hour should be increased with it if it hasn't already been.
2.
I don't really see the point here, the reason why most people enable base is to get to level 20, and start spending money on a chance to get L-M items, not E-M. If you do insist on making the price more expensive, the time/card should be decreased.
3. Tweaking base is a good idea, since the majority prefer silver boxes instead of it, this will maybe make them change their mind.
Slight note:
I do not have level 20 gold mines and or item factories, so i can't talk from experience.