>>but I find myself without a sienna wand at the moment, and it's insanely frustrating<<

Seriously? You can't rock a limited shield wand? The fact the spell allows you to have shield up for most battles isn't enough?

I have a current mage and I've only found one sleek wand (and I've searched over 70-ish locations that I know about). I am able to find two limited wands for each spell though (2 aura, 2 shield, 2 barrier).

Sure those limited wands are a bitch to keep fresh and restocked, but that's the breaks of the game. I could PK other mages and take their wands if it was a real problem.

The problem isn't the hard spots. It's the easy spots that are the biggest problem in the system (because they are easy to a point that if you get any spot BUT those you feel like you got gyped).