I have been playing for about 2 months and have a level 58 Paladin. I have no clue if his equipment is any good but have held my own up to act 4 on nightmare. I need to start thinking about surviving in Hell level.
Before I get to responding to your question about items, I would say that, at lvl 58, you're probably too low to be progressing to hell difficulty - especially playing untwinked (i.e., with all self-found equipment).
If you're playing single player (and it sounds like you are), I'd recommend using the "/players x" command, setting players to 8, and levelling up in the most experience-rich area where you can kill effectively: (canyon of the magi might be good at around lvl 58, or the flayer jungle/kurast in a3). Get your char to lvl 70+ before moving to hell.
When I read these posts on equipment I have no clue what anyone is talking about with all the abbreviations and such. In plain terms where do I go to get the best gear in the game? What dungeon or zone do I go and what do I look for, with full names if possible. I have a feeling I may have sold some stuff to vendors that would have been pretty nice.
You've asked a mouthful.
First, you should realize that the vast majority of posts (especially item-show-off posts) on any of these forums (other than in the single player forum, obviously), are made by players who play on battle.net. And the economy of battle.net has been completely destroyed by duping extremely rare uniques and runes.
Since runewords (go to
http://www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items/runewords.shtml to peruse the lists) are generally by far the most powerful items in the game (with a few exceptions), obviously they're highly sought after. However, high runes like Jah, Ber, Cham, Zod, Sur, etc. are stupidly rare.
For instance, the monster with the highest potential to drop a Jah rune (in an 8 player game, of course) is Hell Izual, offering the lovely odds of 1:399953 (0.00025%) to do so. Ber is a little easier to find: Hell Duriel has a 1:160273 (0.00062%) chance to drop a Ber the first time you kill him, and a 1:334484 chance (0.00030%) for each subsequent time. Obviously, you could play the game for 12 hours a day for your whole life without finding either of these runes, or, you could get lucky (and I mean: "go out and make sure you buy a lottery ticket" lucky) and find them both in an hour.
However, as you can see, the likelihood that all of the Jah and Ber runes in all the Enigma's on battle.net (and there are definitely thousands of people who have at least 1 Enigma, and some who have like 5-6) were self-found is impossibly small.
Since duping is so rampant, and the value of runes is so low compared to how difficult it is to actually FIND one, you can get high runes like Jah and Ber being traded for as little as a hundred perfect gems on the realms.
The point of this long winded explanation is basically to say, that unless you play on battle.net, your chances of actually getting the "best of the best" is so low, you'd have to be prepared to play a long time (and I mean, a very long time - and most likely do endless hellforge rushes (see the guides in the singleplayer forum)). However, that doesnt mean you should immediately decide to play on battle.net. Having the best items is fun for a while, but it gets boring eventually. When you can give a zealot paladin a Grief, and a Fortitude, and an Exile (or a Dream helm/shield) as soon as he gets to be in the mid-high 50's or low 60's, basically, you can kill anything in the game without any challenge whatsoever. And, while its fun to hack down massive groups of monsters with ease, and I completely understand the perverse pleasure that one gets from showing off an extraordinarly powerful runeword (like a 397/38 grief, or a 409% breath of the dying berserker axe), eventually that loses its thrill.
I won't say one way or the other whether you should make the move to battle.net. I will say though, that if you decide to keep playing single player, that this site is a great resource. Head over to the single player forum, introduce yourself, and read some of the guides about character-builds, magic finding, ATMA (which is what I used to generate those rune-finding odds, incidentally), and single player trading. But, you'll soon find out for yourself that the single player trade forum economy, since it isn't based on duped runes/uniques is much more indicative of the actual rarity of the item. In other words, you wont see people offering 40 high runes for any items there.
To conclude, regardless of what you decide to do, it's worth pointing out that paladins (with the notable exception of an Enigma-wearing hammerdin) are not ideal mf-(magic finding)-characters, as they can't really wear mf gear without sacrificing killing speed, and obviously (with the exception of a pally wearing an Enigma,) can't teleport and have to run everywhere - which really slows things down. If you really want to find items, I'd recommend making a new character: either a blizzballer or a meteorb sorceress. This sticky'd thread would a be a good place to start your research:
http://www.purediablo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=427018
I'd also recommend going to
www.battle.net/diablo2exp/items and reading about the different uniques/sets, to see what the items you're aiming for are.
Once you have your sorc, you should run hell Mephisto/hell Andariel/hell Pindleskin/hell Pits (the cave in the tamoe highland in a1)/hell Ancient Tunnels (the dungeon in the lost city in a2)/ and/or hell Baal (depending on who/where you can run without too much trouble).
If you decide to make the move to multiplayer (in which case accumulating massive wealth is MUCH easier), you should hunt for socketable items: elite 3/4 OS (OS = open socket) ethereal/non-ethereal paladin shields, 6/5 OS eth/non-eth berserker axes, 5 OS phase blades, ethereal/non-ethereal 3/4 OS elite armours (dusk shrouds, archon plates, wire fleeces, scarab husks, sacred armours). In addition to hunting for socketables, you should hunt for keys (that is, keys of hate/terror/destruction: do a search for uber trist, and you'll learn what I mean). All of those items are very tradeable, and you could easily get a good supply of high runes, or great uniques if you find some of them.
BUT DONT FORGET to check out the trade-value threads for whatever realm you play so you dont get ripped off. If you're in doubt about the value of what you've found, do a price check in the trade-forums on this site.
I've avoided using abbreviations, but heres a handy list of the most common ones:
http://z14.invisionfree.com/West_Ladder_Mod_List/index.php?showtopic=11
Some they don't mention:
eBOTD = ethereal Breath of the Dying
PB = phase blade
BO = Battle Orders (as in 6BO CtA)
BK= Bul Kathos' Wedding Band
LW = Last Wish
There are lots more, but I'm developing carpal tunnel syndrome.
I hope this has helped, and that you're not too discouraged. Good luck with whatever you decide to do, and here's hoping that the next rune that drops for you is a Zod.
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