Depends... how can you quantify the value of leadership? does it run into the 100s of millions? What does it take to really grow a solid linkshell rather than just slap one together? FFA AF shells with no care who do pure towns versus a deep community driven group has imho two contradictory reasons:
1) Loosely-knit shells which simply rely on numbers, shouts, constant recruiting - sure go for a relic from sponsorship. The time you take as a lead to organise this is time *you* can't farm, synth, play. The path is longer and much more stressful and can die at any second since the average experience in Dynamis and the bond between members is weak. Good luck with Attestation and Fragment in this setup since confidence and pure AF count is your only
currency to offer the membership, since Joe Average can setup next door. I know a few people who are doing/have done this and while I don't like the idea (and tried leading this myself with a couple of people), I don't blame them for bolting off asap... you dread Dynamis and can't wait till its over.
2) Heavy community shells with a carefully crafted and maintained system will yield faster relics but there's a concept of hard work done by all and therefore equal-share deserving. If by that people think, "it'll be my turn to sponsor soon" the wait can get pretty long (and see next para). You do invest more time, but everyone here pulls their weight and the shell is more than the sum of its parts, making leading easier and the "reward" of a relic, ironically less fair imho.
Our shell's been going a while on the latter version, but to be perfectly honest, right now, I'm even considering linkshell demise simply because we'd safely outlast the game's viable lifespan. If FFIV is out 2010, even Q4, that's 16 months to get... how many relics? Waiting your turn in sponsorship cycle is kind of a grim prospect now... If you have a bank, when is it to be dissolved knowing an exodus and obvious devaluation is incoming? I'd rather sacrifice a relic to split 200mil and let everyone enjoy the money while its possible.
Consider that the economics will start declining at some point, (why do a relic when you're not going to be around to enjoy it or even guaranteed to complete it?) - so be realistic about your goals, how it will affect your shell and then see if its even worth starting it.
Personally the achievement of sorting out a successful shell is the rewarding thing in itself. I shamefully noticed a slump in motivation when I got my relic, but its why I chose the horn to make - I'll only enjoy it by seeing others benefit from it. Staying on in the shell is as much a thanks to the people helping as is my only way of appreciating it.
As for the MEB you mentioned, we changed this to a city-cycle based system since we would be shorthanded in towns and over-subscribed in dreams. Since profit was made in towns, we swapped to a system to promote town attendance more in regards to cash itself to keep the profit-splits going in the fairest possible way. Lots more money for those putting in the effort, and none for those only taking advantage of the rarer dream zones.
/wall-o-text
good luck dude