ya, looking back at the dyna-currency leader standard certainly seems unfair in retrospect...but the reality was very different (back then).
Endless recruitment, managing peoples issues, willingness to take on a brand new lvl 75 who was completely clueless as to what to do..and very few people even knew how to pull zones properly. If I wasn't leading the run the run wouldn't have happened at all for 90% of the people in the shell.
easy and fair solution, tell everybody upfront: with this shell they'll never ever get a inch closer to a relic, they'll never get a share from money drops like currency and if they slave hard enough they get a slim chance to bicker over mediocre sidegrades with 18-36 other members.
if everyone knows right from the start what they are in for and you still manage to recrute enough members to finish your relic ~1 year down the line then, and only then, you righteously deserve it.