I personally am loving this event. As for some of the gripes:

Someone camping our entrance. If they are on the platform then, yes, they are exploiting. However, the simple way to deal with this is get a group, go up the ladders in the district with the closest entrances near them to the sewers. Work your way to this entrance, then gank them like a fury from behind.

APs for Imperial Recall Stones. You gain AP in IC as well. 10k is not a lot for these stones. I probably have a playtime split of 80% PvE and 20% PvP and I currently have 2.9 million AP banked.

As for the Tel Var stones, I started this event with a little over 3k of them banked and now have 96k stones. The secret is too be cautious when you are alone (running in the open is not wise) and find where the groups are and hang out with them. Look on the map where crossed swords are with you faction colors. Look where the region flags are overturning to your color. Find a group in these zones - especially during a PvP event.

What is the big deal about Tel Var Stones?

I'm down in the center of IC and carrying 200k stones I ♥ my NB