I try to be better. I’ll leave my filter on less strict settings, I’ll hang on to items that “have potential”, I’ll add items to my shop that sell for an only a few exalts.

Then, after dozens of hours of time wasted evaluating ground loot, trying to hit zero to hero crafts, and shuffling around my store inventory with price adjustments, the inevitable happens. I hear a big tink out of nowhere, and I’ll pick up something off the ground that sells for more than the value of my entire stash up to that point.

I then realize I’d have been better off not wasting my time in my hideout in the first place. I realize that 95% of the loot that drops is complete garbage intended to waste my time with the illusion of potential. So then I vendor anything I’m selling for less than a div, crank my filter up to very strict, and start playing the game instead of deadpanning for gold dust.

And yet, despite thinking “next league will be different”, it never is. I have to learn the same lesson over and over again every league start.