Leinad said:
I have a question for the experts. How are the drops of jewelry type items (rings, ammies, charms, jewels) determined? They aren't classified by TC right? So how do you know who can drop what?
Every item has two levels associated with it: ilvl (item level) and qlvl (quality level). The item level is equal to the level of the monster/chest/etc that dropped it, and the qlvl is dependent on what mods the item has, with items with fixed mods (set and unique items) having a fixed qlvl.
When the game spawns an item from a monster/chest drop, it first determines the base type (ring, breast plate, etc), which is dependant on what TCs the source can spawn. Next MF affects the quality (in the order: inferior, normal, superior/socketed, magic, rare, set, unique), and then it determines the exact item, rolling mods or selecting a specific set/unique item. If it selects a magic or rare item, the qlvl of the mods is limited by the source. If it selects a set/unique item, then the level of the source must be equal to or greater than the item's qlvl, or it is downgraded from unique to rare (with triple durability, if durability applies to the item in question), or from set to magic (with double durability).
This is why you sometimes see people complaining about a specific magic/rare item they found, and saying how it's a "failed such-and-such". Just the other day, in a Hell Pit run, I found a rare corona with 150 durability. That was a failed Crown of Ages, which annoyed me a bit.
I might not have all the details exactly right, but I hope I've helped to clarify some of the mechanics involved for you and others reading this.