I am heavily testing the latest patch with a bunch of newely created alts just to see how bad this is from a new-players perspective (though obviously I will have an easier time since I already know the dos/do-nots of upkeep and other such things like how the play the multiplier/gear game of what to use when).
My latest experiment is a shielder who is going to wear 43K worth of gear 24/7 (Never higher nor lower regardless of the multiplier, and play battle and siege only no DTV, and no grinding in low gear either), my highest yet (Normally I hover at 41K or less) and see how that goes. Due to the way upkeep is now negated for low level Gen 1 characters, I shall see how exactly this works out by the time I hit level 31. If I find that I am still making money slowly but surely over the long run then I shall increase the amount I wear until I, in theory, break even at the theoretical 46K-ish number for sustainability.
So far though I like the new upkeep system besides what it does to Cavalry players, but then again I suppose it was an effort to make them more rare, but still I am a little dissapointed.