Btmr

Hi, I just bought this game on Steam and so far I'm having a good time with it. However, I do have some questions. My forum-search-fu isn't great, so my apologies if this stuff has been asked and answered before. First, I saw mentioned somewhere (in another post) that map exploration affects the chance to find better items. Is there somewhere on my character sheet (or anywhere) that I could see that stat or learn more about how that mechanic works? Second, I'm having a difficult time downing bosses. I clear trash and elites relatively quickly (I think; using the Inquisitor Darth Scion build detailed elsewhere in these forums), but when I get to bosses it feels like I'm doing very little damage. For instance, I can't even kill my own Sakkara (sp?) demon if I summon it. I can't beat the Ice Hydra on Xmas island, and I only beat the big ghost of Xmas (whatever) because he glitched and stood still for most of the fight. The Banshee boss (northeast corner of act 2) took like 5-10 minutes and tons of health pots. My weapons are yellow, but current for my level. I also have gloves that turn a percentage of my phys damage to fire, which I understand is what I need to do for enemies weak to fire (like the hydra). So, the concept of using a damage type the boss is weak against isn't lost on me, but even so I still am not doing enough. What am I missing/doing wrong? If the answer to my 2nd question is to get better weapons, then how do I do that on Silver? I read somewhere that better weapons drop on Gold+, but will I be able to get there on Silver if I can't end up downing the final boss to open up the next difficulty level? As it stands right now, I got about 36 hours played (in Silver) and maybe I get a unique weapon drop every 5 hours or so. And so far they have all been useless with regard to my build. And finally, am I playing the game wrong? I look at build guides and see people talking about hitting game/quest milestones at certain levels, and I'm just thinking to myself "how the hell are these guys getting so far in the game at such low levels?". I'm currently level 39 and still only halfway done with Act 2. Do you guys skip most side quests and ignore most trash? If I could skip the trash then I would, but I don't know how I'm going to get any better gear unless I'm killing stuff and doing quests. I hope that I don't have to roll a character specifically designed for Bargaining, but I suppose if I must then I must. Thanks for taking the time to read. Your advice/answers to any of my questions is appreciated.