1. There's a lot of attributes that really don't apply to what people really use. I guess too many items that relate to mortar troops when I will never use them nor do ever get attacked by them except once in a while in war but these stats aren't attributed to war (Yet). I think the common theme is that there are always troops/buffs/research that are meaningless to a lot of people. It's no different than having the the research chapters in the library for things that people don't use.
2. I don't know if there's really a set number of items. I've gotten a few different names for various items but the name of the item doesn't mean anything. The stats are all random for every artifact so seeing the name alone won't tell you right away that something is good, you just have to check the stats. The only thing that is set for sure is the legendary item that costs actual money. Since you don't have paratroopers yet, you're either global and haven't researched it yet or never plan to or are industrial or lower age. If it's the latter I would advice against upgrading museum to level 3 as all that does is unlock the slot for legendary and unless you're planing to pay money it's useless and wasted time. So far from what've people have crafted, I don't think the level of the museum dictates how good the items you craft are. We have players in our alliance with level 2 museum and they've gotten items with 11% oil loot on first tier. I have level 4 museum and have gotten jack squat so far. It's just up to chance.
3. (A) The process itself and the items that are made are not confusing and you get the hang of after crafting a few items. (B+C) It is more annoying but so are many things in the game. I think the biggest gripe that most people (Including myself who uses it considerably) have are that it took away items from the dock just to fuel the museum. The museum items should've been merely added to the game rather than replace things. It's quite stupid really that it's spilled into the expedition systems even for those that are industrial and lower. There's no valid reason to get researchers or benefactors items when they require a level 4 and higher museum which requires global age. The other trouble it causes are for those people who never chose to do expeditions. It's true that a lot of the rewards are worthless. For those that researched the expeditions chapter, it's much less taxing to do the expeditions requiring less time and citizens. So there are a lot of holes that the museum created making both an interesting addition (Assuming you've gotten decent items) and worthless addition as well. I really hate that the update has F'ed the game play up with touch issues and the chat is actually worse now than before as we have messages that are popping up that were a week old.
4). No
