Believe it or not, but PvP players are capable of farming trash mobs for stones just as well as PvE players are, if not better.
PvP players do go to PvP areas for the thrill of encountering and fighting other players, true, but that does not mean they sit on their hands until a player target happens to wander by. The surrounding mobs and the stones they drop are a welcome bonus.
The moment you PvPer start killing NPCs to grind VTs, then you have just become a PvEer until you are done with killing NPCs.
In that case however the PvE'rs that you claim are the "building block required for farming TV's" are hardly "at the bottom of the food chain.", like you said.
Anyone who thinks that they are is in for a nasty surprise.