The loss of the gateway is a very large loss to some players, me being one of them
The gateway provided a couple of (in my mind) indispensable tools, the ability to deal quickly and easily with professions across multiple characters, and the ability to access other characters inventory lists with changing characters in game. These 2 tools make running multiple characters a lot easier in the long run, resulting in more play time.
Here are a couple of ideas to ease the loss of the gateway and improve game-play for players.
Professions: (in game management is too time consuming)
Add a repeat button to tasks. So if you are creating elemental aggregates, you click the repeat button, and the task will repeat again once it completes. This would depend on their being enough prerequisites to accomplish the task, and inventory space to accept the completed item.
Inventory Views
Add a screen in the game to view inventories of other characters without having to relog. View only, the allows the player to search other character inventories for items of need.
cheers and thanks for listening.
Ello