Just turn it into +2? Whats the point of -1 now anyways?
Whats the point in using 50 items to upgrade from NQ to +2, when you can save time by saving up forgotton items, +1 your NQs, and overall spend less forgotton items.
If you wanted to upgrade 10 NQs straight to +2, you would need 500 forgotton items, and only 300 for 10 +1s to +2s.
The only problem I noticed with upgrading to +1 though, you got to wait a full week to do one at a time, I currently have 8 -1s waiting to upgrade Relic, but that is ok, because while I wait for the weeks to go by, I can save up forgotton items and have enough to upgrade every single one when I get them.
I don't believe in buying forgotton items, they are very easy to obtain and the price they sit at is too high in my opinion.
Edit: To comment on the actual topic, it seems like some gear are seriously rare, while others you will see at least once every run.
A good example of this is Taurus in Tavnazia, I have farmed a good deal of these in groups of 4-6, and gear like Hydra Mittens, Hydra Harness, and some of the NPC gear are very common, the enmity + and - gear are rarer, and I have yet to see a Hydra Hauberk or Hydra Sollerets drop, while Hydra Salade is exceptionally common.
Keep trying man, it will drop eventually.