Imagine, for a moment, that there were zero rewards for pvp- no pvp gear, no rep rewards, nothing. It was solely something people that liked pvp did to enjoy pvp.
Which would sound like more fun to you?
A- Fight enemy players, gather resources, summon elementals and empower your troups, send out riders and defend choke points, burn or defend towers and win a war that can last hours to days and is easy to come and go from.
B- Ride to the other side of the map.
I get it- everything seems to always come down to arguments about efficiency- about how you can play the game for the least amount of time possible to get rewarded.
But if we pretend for just a moment that games are about having fun- what sounds more fun to you?