Is there a way I can set Lore to a high level so I don't have to pay 100 gold to identify items every time?

Along this line of thought...it would be nice if we could automatically identify like items we have already paid to identify. :~)

I can't believe there's been 100 patches and yey you still get stuck in doors!

The easy way to boost your Lore skill (identify and legend lore spells aside) is to boost your Intelligence ability. Alternatively you can use a program such as LETO to set your skill to the desired level, design a Lore boosting item to import, or just give yourself more gold to pay for the identifying.
Or you could just bother to pour some skillpoints into your Lore skill as you gain levels, that works too.