Hot Take: Artificers aren't inventors. They aren't going to invent guns or other advanced machines like everybody always says.
They're MAGICAL tinkerers. They turn ordinary things into magic things. Even the "firearms" subclass doesn't use real guns, they make a fancy magic wand.
Any class can pick up a tool proficiency and be just as talented as an artificer when it comes to creating non magic items.
@illithilich i believe there was a lot of this in Baker's designs - "wide magic, not high magic" is something he wanted to instil in eberron.
Everything about them is replicating an existing thing through tinkering, magic, and... well, artifice!
I like the inventor archetype, but the putterer and imitator of great mages through clockwork, alchemy, and scraps of brass and wood are also highly appealing.