I think it would be fairly easy to say warping TO any town waypoint should be free. It technically already is with the WvW gates. There are 2 negatives to keeping this approach: 1st, its really just forcing players through multiple load screens and especially through lions arch, which already has a high density of players. 2nd it funnels people through WvW, which during busy times means ppl that want to get in and actually do WvW might be held up by others using this workaround. I think the money sink is important, but currently isnt working in this direction. Either the workaround should be blocked off, or we should eliminate the need to work around. I’m in favor of the latter.
Also I second the suggestion for a minipet “equipment slot.” I had the same idea but someone beat me to it.