Funcom provided rewards to support Fury and Crom PvP Tournaments.
500 shards just to participate and up to 1350 for the winner.
Fury: The Bloodbath - Fury's First Seasonal Minigame Tournament
Crom: The Bloodbath "KiddiePool Edition"- Croms First Seasonal Minigame Tournament
My two cents 
Khitai dungeons offer a lower incentive to players when compared to raid finder; T4 is notably better. T3 is something they can see in the reliquary and start working towards right away, and many already have some before level 80. By default, they’re directed to RF to collect a few more for the item they want. In contrast, Khitai gear requires some travel through dangerous territory to be ‘discovered’.
Another issue to resolve is that nearly every time I see anyone forming a group, they require 'Exp & AA" and sometimes even include ‘gear’, which never has made any sense to me.