It makes me very suspicious that all those 'artifacts' were not strengthening the Veil at all, but preparing to destroy it.
Adding some fuel to this theory...
Now that his quest has been fixed, if you activate 10 artifacts, you find and seal a new, high-level rift in the Hinterlands. Supposedly this is because the artifacts allow him to predict the location of rifts that have not yet opened.
But it's open when you get there. It isn't like the breach, where you have to open it first in order to seal it.
I find that... curious.