Artifact tips: Consider the material of the artifact that you want to buy (from traveling vendors probably) when trying to buy curly bracketed ('{' '}') artifacts. These things generally have more enchantments than angle bracketed ('<' '>') items, but they cannot be changed except with material kits. Material kits can be purchased for a hefty price in noyel during the last month of the year (xmas version and up) or from a certain mountain city accessible via a dangerous cave (all versions).
Angle bracketed artifacts can be changed with scrolls of inferior/change/superior materials, making them more versatile if you get lucky with the enchantments. If you have a great Jeweler skill, go get some materials, a gem cutter and create some superior material scrolls to enhance your equipment. Alternatively, invest in magic shops. Investing will make them stock more expensive items, expand the amount of money they can hold (which you can obtain by having a little tail with the shopkeeper) and increase the chances of better items to appear (in the case of the magic shops, potions of potential, cure corruption and love potions).