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hello all, first my name is Jeff, i am new to this forum...so hello...i look forward to a good stay.
second...
i have over 500MF on my sorc...and have just started doing HELL andy and meph runs...to no avail...i seem to be finding crap...best i have found are a pair of drac's...has anyone else had this same luck as me? and if so what are the alternatives to MF...im not the strongest sorc, so i have been teleing to andy and meph all i can really handle...also has anyone had any luck mfing in NM...let me know...thanks alot..
Jeff
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09-08-2004, 10:07 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-08-2004, 10:08 PM by Tal.)
Hi Jeff
Magic find is all about luck. Sometimes you'll have runs with good drops, sometimes you'll have magic find runs with bad drops. You're in a slump - eventually it will even out and you'll have better luck.
FYI -
Ellipses are not a form of punctuation. :)
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There is no luck.
There is only probability over time. You will find exactly what you seek eventually, but the time required to guarantee the probability may be extreme. As long as items still drop after a battle, the probabilities are working as designed.
Maybe if we knew what you were looking for we could help you minimize the time interval in your favor.
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i am currently looking for:
1. tals armor
2. tals ammy
i did find a tals ammy before in NM trav runs...but i have had no luck since that...thanks for the help! let me know if you have any input on this. thanks again.
Jeff
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09-09-2004, 03:40 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-09-2004, 03:42 PM by gekko.)
Well, it's been awhile, but I believe I still have mostly the correct information here.
Tal's armor is a set laquered plate. So meph cannot drop it. Best place to look for it are in the high level areas, changed in 1.10. The most common would probably be the Pit in act 1. Champs and bosses in the Pit can drop any item in the game (exceptions, of course, being ladder-only items in non-ladder games, etc).
Aside from that, you've already heard the best advice. If you're looking for any single, particular item, MF'ing is more an excersice in frustration than anything else. However, over time, you will find items of use, interest, or value. Since MF'ing can become incredibly dull over time, I suggest making characters who can run the high level areas with reasonable speed and 100-200% MF. This becomes easier as your available item pool grows. Early on, good choices are skeleton necromancers and fireball sorcs in the pits. If you can have fun and enjoy playing these areas while simultaneously finding better items, you win no matter how good or bad your 'luck' is.
gekko
ps Welcome to the lounge. You cleaned up your posting style quickly, once you learned how we do things here. I think you'll have a nice, long stay with us. On that note, most people would greatly appreciate it if you cleaned it up just a little more :). A few capital 'I's' would go a long way.
"Life is sacred and you are not its steward. You have stewardship over it but you don't own it. You're making a choice to go through this, it's not just happening to you. You're inviting it, and in some ways delighting in it. It's not accidental or coincidental. You're choosing it. You have to realize you've made choices."
-Michael Ventura, "Letters@3AM"
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Is there any real study on MF? I have heard 100 MF can be worse than 160 MF (or things of that nature). Does anyone with knowledge of the D2 LOD structure know what exactly the MF errors are?
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More MF means more unique/set/rare/magic items. There isn't any case where less is better for that.
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adeyke,Sep 9 2004, 05:18 PM Wrote:More MF means more unique/set/rare/magic items. There isn't any case where less is better for that.
What he's speaking of is "diminishing returns". In a nutshell, the more MF you get, the less your chances increase. Your chance to find stuff still increases with every % of MF you get, but it increases less.
For example: You will find many more unique and set items if you have 100% instead of 0% but you will not find that many more items if you have 500 instead of just 350.
Allow me to illustrate this with a gorgeous piece of artwork:
![[Image: mf.jpg]](http://www.home.no/lzp/mf.jpg)
The higher MF you get, the flatter the line will get. It will always keep going up, but it won't go up as steep as it did from 0-100. Can also be compared with racing cars. It takes them 3 seconds to get from 0-100, but it takes them 7 seconds to get from 300-400km/h.
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The diminishing returns actually kicks in at 10%. Also, there are different diminishing returns for each of set items, uniques, and rares. Magic items don't have diminishing returns.
It seems I didn't quite read the question right, though. Obviously, 100% MF is worse than 160% MF (unless you want non-magic items). There's nothing buggy about less MF giving less magic items.
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He probably meant to say that 100 was better than 160 which is old old old OLD information on that bug which has long since been fixed.
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I did mean to say better, and I can only assume that bug has been fixed. I think I will be content with ~250 MF If I can even get that much. :P
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09-09-2004, 09:56 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-09-2004, 09:57 PM by Tal.)
Bad choice in words then in using the word "luck". Though I do find it preferable and more understandable to use luck than "probability over time". :)
