I made a sorc and have a few items someone gave me but not strong enough for most of hell yet. Should I mf nm cows and collect gems? Also why are bags of gems so valuable?
Gems are valueable for magic item rerolling (mostly grand charms) and crafting. Most players who are rolling or crafting buy gems frequently. Yes, i would definitely farm in nm, or even normal until i have a strong enough gear for hell - if hell is what you like. I farm normal cows too, even though i have well over enough power to farm hell mobs.
Hello and welcome aboard, @Curtman. Next to what @realaki said, I would also like to mention that magic find (since you mentioned it in your post) does not affect rune and gem drop rates. We have several guides on magic find here in the forums but in short, MF only affects the item's quality aka what "color" an item will be, after it is already determined what kind of item is to be dropped. Below, you can check out some good beginner guides to help you get started as well as other helpful guides too. Feel free to ask questions if you are in need of help. http://forum.europebattle.net/threads/beginners-guide-road-to-supersayan-in-diablo-2.540101/ http://forum.europebattle.net/forums/guides.1076/
Hey and welcome @Curtman ,We have our custom features on the server which you can read here: https://europebattle.net/d2/features. Welcome to start on Hardcore also