Hey there, what's up with you today?
So I recently discovered I still had a single .d2s file of Magicka, a clvl89 MeteOrb Sorceress from my ~2012 playthrough. When I got back into the game in 2015 I kept Infinity, CtA, ~6 HRs and deleted the rest of my 2012 stuff.
After opening the file, I saw that Magicka had a Spirit Broad Sword, Rhyme Grim Shield, Chancies, Goldwrap, and a +3 Meteor Ormus Robes with a PTopaz. Nothing else. I have no idea why she was left like this. Maybe I was considering keeping her and replaying to find better stuff all along? Fact is, the stuff she had was enough to try and improve her through self-found play. I decided this was going to be fun (or at least more fun than playing my stacked 2015 characters in search of grailers), so I went for it.
In the past few days I have been playing her again almost exclusively, with just the stuff she had plus the CtA + Infinity I kept from her era (which had been sitting in a mule ever since, anyway). After powering through NM Meph to find some decent gear, I moved to hell and did the act bosses to get Essences to respec her to a Lightning Sorceress. Shortly after that she found Gheed's in the Pit (38%) and War Travs from Meph (45%), so I was having loads of fun while getting some serious upgrades for her.
The next upgrade I wanted to make was Heart of the Oak, to replace the Spirit Broad Sword. I decided to try Hell Cows to search for a 4os Flail (didn't want to go back to NM because my Countess map with her is AMAZING). In one of the first runs, she finds this:
Eventually I managed to find the 4os Flail, and she still had a Vex from the past stuff. That was everything I needed for a Heart of the Oak except for a Pul rune. I then decided to do a few hours of Countess to find one. No luck there besides 2 Lems (1 short of cubing up to Pul), so I moved to Lower Kurast to change things a bit.
Well then. Of course, when you play Diablo 2 looking for something, you find whatever greatness that can be found except what you were hunting for. This happened literally just 20 minutes in, with very loose play and abysmal run speed
I'll keep looking for that Pul. Maybe in The Pit, so I can find Griffon's instead?