If they ever want to return to some artifact-esque system, borrowed or not, i hope they do it via class relics.
Just so we can have a personalized system again.
Gameplay aside, one reason why the artifacts were so well received was due to how personal they were.
Artifacts were those big, flashy, customizable weapons, with lots of story and personality. (literally, for some weapons).
The game made it very clear that those weren't just "some" weapons, they were 'our' weapons and 'our' power, that grew and changed alongside us while also allowing us to customize them, making us form an attachment to them.
Azerite failed miserably in that regard.
It was an invisible necklace that barely did anything until 8.2.
Didn't help that it was 'literal' borrowed power and not just in-concept, with absolutely no personality other than Magnis constant screeching about snorting azerite.
The covenant system is the traumatized child of the 2.
Its very cosmetic and has some personality, but suffers just as much from it so obviously being 'borrowed' and bound to go away.
Most of the Soulbinds aren't tied to any actual character making them feel like glorified stack sticks (which... they are, but they could've not felt as such)
And because they had to distribute player power between the covenants, a lot of players just pick whatever icy-veins tells them to instead of going for the one that actually interests them visually/storywise and just never ends up caring for them due to that.