About the ArtificierIt's fairly unlikely. Like you said, they are mainly focusing on the PHB in term of content and Artificiers come with the "Tasha's Cauldron of Everything".
Having Githyanki* as a playable race is an exception to the that rule but it makes a lot of sense since we are dealing with Mindflayers from the get-go.
*They are not found in the PHB but in "Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes" or "Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse".Furthermore :
crafting, background and classes are all different things. You don't need to be a Guild Artisan or Artificier to craft things.
About Guild Artisans and Guild MerchantsMaybe I'm misunderstanding you, and I'm by no means an expert (just love doing research) but...I think you're confusing the two when you said :
the Guild Artisan background, which is predestined for the producing trade. Actually, I would quite like to have the Guild Merchant background for services like music making from the bard. It's okay for my female daintily elf bard to make an antidote, but physically demanding blacksmithing?
(PHB | in BG3)
Guild Merchant = expert in trading/selling (PHB (Variant) | not in BG3)
So Guild Merchants don't make musical instruments, Guild Artisans might**, which is what I'm guessing you meant by "for services like music making from the bard"?
**See Guild Business. Musical instruments are not on the list but it could fall under "Woodcarvers, coopers, bowyers".ConclusionI'm not against having the Artificier class. I'm just not convinced but the potential clues you are giving.
That being said. I'm still hoping for non-PHB content as well
Like Eladrins or Satyrs as playable race
