Right now it's kind of like a huge forum of random information topics, troll topics, selling topics, buying topics, etc.
I'm hoping soon it will be a tad more organized like the WoW forums (subforums for trading, etc).
As for the 'eventually' on the gladiator - it really takes no time at all to hit level 9 or 10 to get the option to choose and I must say that whole sequence is quite exciting all the way up to going to the main city and being recognized. You'll enjoy it.
On the gold ratio part - I'm seeing mostly 1,000 Kinah = 1-2 FG (varies depending on realm and faction) at least at this time.