Sometimes it isn't worth it

Recently I have been spending most of my time playing a healer monk. It takes a different type of person to get satisfaction from mainly watching the life bars of his teammates and trying to keep them alive but it can be rewarding.

That said, I went in search of some better items to help my monk. I farmed a few areas & did the other quests & things I could to try & get the best rod & scroll or ankh I could find; and found next to nothing.
So, my thought was to check out the collectors in the desert and see what I could trade for. I collected 5 iridescent griffin wings and went off to Kraviec the Cursed and lo & behold I got a healing ankh with +12 energy, +15 energy, +35 health (may have been higher), with the only drawback a -1 energy regeneration. This was pretty darn good. So, next I want a rod.

I was trying to trade for quite a while for either bleached shells or massive jawbones. I had 6 people try to trade me bleached carapaces instead of shells but they all seemed to be genuinely mistaken. Finally got 5 massive jawbones and put together a little party of henchmen to try & reach Karl Jacobs. Maybe it is a little easier for a party with 2 monks (Alesia the healer & I) but I had very little trouble getting around in the desert. As long as I attracted no more than 3 of any type of monster I usually got through. Well, I finally got to Karl and there was my Holy Rod - fire damage 11-22, 20% chance of faster casting rate.

Now don't get me wrong; I had never seen a rod that had that much damage. But I expected a little more from my efforts than 11-22 FIRE DAMAGE, 20% CHANCE OF FASTER CASTING.

I have read the other postings about the lack of good rods for monks but I thought I could resolve that problem with a little work and effort and thought. My question now is: DOES LORD DORN LENDRIGEN, WHO TRADES A HOLY ROD FOR 5 BLEACHED SHELLS HAVE ANYTHING BETTER THAN WHAT I GOT?

Just thought I would ask and pass along what happened to me.

As a healer monk you shouldn't be too concerned with how much damage your weapon does. Your main concern is healing. You want to find weapons with mods that boost important stats for you like energy. My healer has a staff that is 2-4 dmg but, has +4 energy, +3 energy when health > 80%, +3 energy when health > 60%, and +3 energy when health > 40%. So basically this staff is giving me +13 energy as long as I stay healed. Not bad for where I am at in the game so far.

Kuku, I understand what you are saying and agree with you fully. I did not go to the desert collector to get a "killing" rod, I went to get one that would help me heal & stay alive.
I would gladly exchange the rod for one that would have 1/2 of the mods on the healing ankh. That was my point: the ankh was very good; the rod was almost useless.

Yeah, my monk never gets any good weapon drops, only collector's junk like fangs and glowing hearts.