Seldom I found I needed to upgrade and generally had a large sum of gold more often than not. Those Runes are the killer, just do not go overboard with them since you will outgrow pretty much everything and it is a waste. Just put 'em in as you find them I say.
Hehe, was reading people having issues with the Druag(sic). Initially I had issues (mainly got sick of the run-up to the fight), then I got lucky or something. Got behind the beast in the first few seconds of the fight, then just did strong attacks and it went down without a fight. I am Magic focus so it was not that I even hit that hard. Seems so much in this game can be luck, which is kinda sucky, but hell, still an amazing game!