Alchemy
The reason why it may not have gone up is because your proficiency goes up with successful compounds. To the game, a success means getting a higher ranked item (compared to the average) back. And bows can be troublesome, the reason why you don't see a lot of bows for sale is because of how hard they can be to make.

Different Prices
Yeah, I know what you mean. It's because the markets on the other servers have been set already, so to speak. And people have been on them longer, so they tend to have more money, so people selling things bring up the prices. On newer servers the prices are low because most people don't have a lot of gold yet, after all the only source of 'new gold' is from NPCs like the guy in Kelan people sell ores to (or from server events). Anything else is really just gold changing hands.

Wallpapers
Yeah, it kinda bites =\ But the game is called Wonderland, so they have a theme to stick to. Annoyingly.

Elin and Clive
Alone at that level? No. Level 50? Depends on your element and stats, but remember you'll be going against 3 lvl 60 trolls for elin, and an array of pirates for Clive. Keep trying for a team.