void stones

can someone explain to me why I should care about void stones? I've asked several people and looked at several videos and the only thing I can come too is that they're either completely useless because they delete every map drop that isn't t16 or they're absolutely mandatory and make it so every single map that does drop is always tier 16

https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Atlas_of_Worlds#Map_Equity

TL;DR: More T16s drop overall and T17s can drop.

So your 'tldr' doesn't really tell me shit, and that link is just.... wrong.

It says "The values are tripled per tier (powers of 3)" which would mean that 2 to the power of 3 (since it states it's 'powers of 3') is 8, yet it states it is 3, and 2*3 is 6 as well so it's still just.... wrong.

More voidstones = more T17 maps. Also you can't drop a map of a given tier if it isn't on the atlas. For example, if you want T16 Glacier to drop when it's naturally placed on T1, you'll have to socket all the stones. Some cards drop only on high-tier maps, and some good low-tier map layouts can be useful at T16.

Powers of 3 starts at 0. It's not based on the map tiering number.

As for the tl;dr, that is a direct answer to your either/or question.

Maps that are not available on your atlas get converted to points. Once you've accumulated enough points the lowest tier of map on your atlas will drop, causing you to drop more T16s overall when 4 voidstones are socketed.