There is nothing wrong with the way it is now. If you don't like the grind too bad live with it or skip the artifact. Some people actually like the grind, but a grind does not work unless there is a reward for it. So let the people who don't like to grind just go on, and for the people who like to grind they can spends hours sacing mobs.
If you want more artifacts without grinding at an altar just go on with the game, you are bound to find more. Pre-crowning is not essential for the game, this is something extra you can do if you want. I didn't even know what pre-crowning was before I beat the game for the 1st time. Since I did it with no spoilers, I would just get crowned first chance I got and went from there. I killed tons of toons before I even figured out what it meant to be doomed (I figured it was bad I just didn't appreciate how bad it was). When I first found the crown of science I would wear that thing everywhere and it taught me really fast what being doomed meant. My point being, that you can beat the game without all the little extras. Instead of fussing over an extra, like pre-crowing, just play the game and have fun.