I wrote this in a random thread that deviated subject, but I thought some people could enjoy the lecture and/or get their +1 ^^
Nothing against the user I'm quoting, I respect his opinion, this is just for context.
So here's the copy/pasta :
There are many studies, like the one you posted, that report the relation between MF% and quality level of items dropped.
The problem about those studies is that they do not include the single most important factor : what is valuable
They show results as if uniques > sets > rares > magics > whites
And they show these results without looking at the fact that for most item base, their related unique/set will never have any value, while if they were either rare/magic/white they could have had value.
Now, just look at this graph shown in the link you posted...
https://i.imgur.com/hdzAkV8.pngThis is true for andy and duriel that are now permanently quest bugged in D2R.
What's more valuable?
A potential gg rare ring/amy?
Or increased chances with each % mf to transform this rare into something suddenly almost garanteed to be a useless magic or cathan or manald or whatever charsi food (because yes, that's what you're most likely gonna get)
Now, if you look at other bosses and super uniques, the graph is gonna feel like more mf is more profitable when farming those... only if you don't understand the facts behind it.
Here are the odds of what you'll get in hell / TZs :
Normal Items: 67.84870452%
Exceptional/Elite Items: 20.29650961% (of which ~2/3 are exceptional)
Class Specific Items: 11.85478587%
Understand this.
There are no normal/exceptional items rolled as set/unique that are valuable, except for a very few exceptions that we can name since the list is extremely short :
magefist, chancies, goldwrap, vipermagi, waterwalk, wartrav, gores, Soe, Tgods, suicide branch.
That's it... and let's be honest, those items are only worth picking up early ladder and are soon 5fgs items that most people just skip as the market gets saturated.
11.85% are class specific items?
You're almost guaranteed that a white base would have been better.
There are many unique/sets versions of class specific items, but among them the only good ones are :
titan, tstroke, arreat, DF, ravenlore, Hoz
Again... that's it.
Among the very long list of class specific items, just for a minor chance to find one of the above with increased mf%, you fucked up so many potential great drops.
GG mosaic GT base? Nope, its bartuc's !
GG eth rare claw? Nope, it's Nat's set !
45@ auric shield? Nope, its a trash blue/yellow or a alma negra/dragonscale, sorry
GG pelt? Nope, its aldur !
some super easy to sell socketed sup armor/helm/shield/weapon? Nope it's still a rainbow of shit !
And everything get's even worse when you look at drops from regular mobs...
Bases are definitely worth way more than magics.
In fact, the only very few magic items that can be valuable have chances so low that's it's not recommended to lose time picking them up and id'ing them.
The blue items you see on the market are either a lucky shot while gambling, but most likely shopped by bots.
No matter how high you push your mf%, regular mobs will most likely just convert bases to magics.
And unless you're exclusively elite/boss sniping, regular mobs are still the main portion of your drops when density destroying (which is the most profitable way to mf).
What's left?...
hrs -> not affected by mf
igg -> not affected by mf
crafting supplies -> not affected by mf
keys/organs -> not affected by mf
charms -> as soon as everyone got their sunders, you really better get a chance at any of the many potential gg magic charms rather than to get another fucking -82% pOiSoN sUnDeR
MF is a scam.
At least, as soon as the ladder season is 1+ week old.
And it's always a scam in NL as the only things still worth something are gfg rare/craft for the pvp community.
I repeat...
MF is a scam.
It's not "rng"...
Just learn what to pick up instead of thinking that you should be trying to spot gold/green colors on your screen lol
Oh trust me, you'd lose your own bet.
It's a known fact that, yes, you can indeed have better odds at finding very specific items / affixes by target farming specific area levels.
But it's also a known fact that you greatly reduce your potential profit, due to the smaller and smaller quantity of potentially valuable items you restrict yourself to.
I know quite a bit on the subject, I'm a stubborn nerd who likes to find very specific items that way (see my guide in my sig!)
But I also know how bad it is, in terms of profit, to do so... and I still do it cuz I'm done playing the jsp game since long ago :p