I can't speak for others, but I don't particularly care about character power progression. The Covenant gear is nice because it quickly gets you to the point where you can comfortably do most activities in the game other than Mythic raids or high M+ dungeons. I prefer a mix of challenging solo content (Mage Tower, Twisting Corridors, Visions), alternate progression (Garrisons, Class Halls), and a bit of transmog/mount farming rather than chasing ilvl increases. The issue with Shadowlands in my opinion is that Covenant progression (the anima grind) is painfully slow and very unrewarding. Twisting Corridors was kinda fun, but it takes WAY too long to do for fun after beating layer 8.