wolfman- I in no way mean to malign you, but your malapropism of “then runs into battle with a big ass two handed ass” has me nearly hysterical with the imagery.
As for finding magic items:
I believe (from my observations of the game) that what happens is this-
When a dungeon is first created, it is ‘seeded’ with chests and barrels and such. These chests and barrels have an internal number attached to them based upon type- that is, ‘glowing’ chests have a high number, regular chests a normal number, and barrels and the like a low number- and then an additional random.
When you open one of these chests or such, a random number is generated, modified by the chest modifier and by any ‘find magic’ bonuses your character has. This number is checked on a chart to determine whether a magic item is found, and if so, what type. The chart is a sliding scale, which means that if the number rolled is just barely in the ‘magic’ scale, you get a weak magic item; if the roll plus modifiers is very high, you get a rare, unique, or set item.
I base this upon a few things.
First, with major ‘find magic’ bonuses, I found a lot more magic items, but most of them were crappy- but when I ran into a ‘guaranteed’ magic item source (Named monster, glowing chest), the item tended to be much better than what other (non ‘find magic’ bonused) characters found.
Second, I’ve run a couple of times into the “Chest of Giving” (which sounds like a description of my favorite porn stars, but I digress). For example- one time I created a Barbarian, and in running through the first area (Blood Moor? Whatever. First place outside camp), I found a small house with a chest in it. Open the chest- Set Item Death’s Guard (Sash with massive defensive properties). Later on, after having saved and re-started, run through the area again, open the chest, Bing!- Rare Short Bow.
So the upshot? If you open a chest and find a really good magic item, chances are that if you pass through the area again after a save and reload that opening the chest again will produce another really good magic item. The seed placed when the level was created was abnormally high; as the level isn’t re-created no matter how many times you save and reload, you’ve still got a massive seed to make it easier to get nice items. That’s why the Ancient Sanctuary was likely so good to my current Barbarian- it had good seeds for the glowing chests, and thus always sprung rare or set items (not that many of the rare items were ones I could use, but still). So keep track of where you find kick-ass items, and take the time to go through it over and over again. At the worst, you’ll end up with a lot of cash, and you can use that cash to Gamble.
A couple questions now of my own for those who have finished the game and continued on to higher difficulties.
1.) Do you keep your items when you progress to the next difficulty, or do they all disappear and you get to start again?
2.) Do the earlier blacksmiths still sell crappy weapons and armor, or do they get upgraded to weapons more on a par with your character’s level and equipment? That is, once I restart, will Charsi keep trying to sell me Short Swords and Leather Armor, or will she have War Swords and Gothic Plate?
3.) Regarding the Cow Level- you do this after you finish the game, once per difficulty level (yeah, I’ve got the patch). When do you do this? Do you have time after killing Diablo to wander around and find the Cow Level? Or do you advance into the next difficulty level and do it early on (after picking up Wirt’s Leg in Tristram)? If I save and exit after killing Diablo, can I go back to that same game and try the Cow Level, or will it automatically make me start a new game (since Diablo’s dead)?
Also, the Wand / Scepter / Staff sellers sell better stuff.
- and necromantic minions tend to die pretty darn quickly around him). So, you may be able to kick butt with the plebes, but the Bosses will eat you for lunch.