In TES, weapons have a colored aura. If you see an aura indicating fire damage, it's hard to tell whether it deals one point of damage or one hundred and one. You could create models not for each artifact specifically, but for the property it possesses. It might not be as visually impressive, but it would be more confusing for the enemy.
You might argue that in Diablo, equipment was displayed on the hero's model. Well, in Diablo, it simply increased stats, and each hero had unique sets that couldn't be used by others.

P.S. Teng, are you trying to get me to create a Luke avatar for myself? :3