What am I missing?

[lousytourist]

I read these guides, and they make it sound like you can pick up this stuff at the local grocery:

Boots

The old favorite, Treads of Cthon, are extremely nice boots that you can pick up at level 15 and wear throughout the game, though until you get a decent amount of base stamina, Vidala’s Fetlocks (level 9) would probably serve you better. Goblin Toe also gives a good deal of crushing blow.

Mid-level introduces you to Gore Riders, which are some of the best boots you can get for a barb now that the critical hit bug is gone. War Travelers are still very nice though, and Marrowwalks are becoming increasingly popular in the PvP circuit.

I grab every magical thing I can find, and seldom if ever find the stuff mentioned in these guides. What am I missing?

[Arkardo]

Some guides assume you've got everything at your disposal, although these items aren't particulary valuable; most of it is worth only some pgems, so you could buy it, if you wish.

But yeah, I remember I was pretty annoyed when I read a guide (not from this site) that went like.
At level 20, get items (instert valuable items).
At level 35, get items (instert even more valuable items).
At level 60, get items (instert rediculously valuable items).

I really thought like, what the **** dude.

Even worse was another guide that listed equipment for a friggin goldfinder as followed:
PERFECT Crown of Thieves (or was it IK helm? I forgot...)
PERFECT up'd Goldwrap
PERFECT Chance Guards
PERFECT this
PERFECT that
Inventory:
PERFECT Gheeds

Come on! Like your goldfinder would be wasted without perfect items...

All in all, don't worry about getting all those items at the earliest levels possible. Heck, I don't even know why those Treads of Chton are so hot anyway...

[Mursilis]

Only way to find what the guides talk about is to magic find, magic find and then do more magic finding. This (http://forums.diabloii.net/showthread.php?t=422336)thread should point you in the right direction.

That said you can still get by without the exact items mentioned in most guides, rares or other uniques normally work almost as well or better depending on your style of play.