Emeralds From Loot Running W/o Mythics?

In most cases you will be at a net loss unless you know what you're picking up. Generally speaking, if for some reason I'm running low on scrap, I'll pick up unique items. Other items that I tend to pick up include:

• Powders: I exclusively pick up Tier IV powders. You can either combine or just let them sit in your inventory, but their value is generally higher than identified Legendary items.
• Meta Ingredients: Some ingredients in the game can be used to flash-grind professions. Cooking, Jeweling and Tailoring in particular all have sought after ingredients, which include:
  • Sought-After Ore: Level 96, Jeweling. Gives loot quality, which is highly sought after (natch).
  • Crystallized Organ: Level 100, Cooking. A very useful loot quality ingredient for the profession it is used in.
  • Ancient Currency: Level 100, Tailoring. Used in creating LQ equipment.
  • Decaying Heart: It's a Dark Forest/Kander Forest/Dernal Jungle item that you actually have to seek out exclusively. Fairly difficult to find, and is used in LQ equipment.
  • X Aura: All variants count. All of them are Scribing, and are used in creating SP scrolls.
  • Gravitation Crystal: Level 95, Weaponsmithing/Woodworking. Fairly good spell ingredient.
  • This list can go on and on, so look for a list of meta ingredients in crafting items. Note that these items are very useful to the professions community.
• Meta Items: These items are highly sought after for their use in several meta builds. Examples include Sizzling Shawl, Capricorn, Yang and Old Keeper's Ring, among others. I don't have a full list of those, but it is generally worth picking up items that are necessary for endgame builds.
• Fabled Items: Why not.
• Emeralds: Definitely pick them up where you see them.

I also recommend investing in Loot Quality if you haven't already. My loadout for my lootrunning Mage is:

• Third Eye: Replace with Anamnesis if you don't have enough Intelligence for 1 Mana teleports at a severe cost to Health.
• Discoverer: Replace with Diamond Dust if broke. 40+ LB is recommended for Diamond Dust.
• Crafted Pants/Boots: 18+ LQ recommended. Ask around, you should be able to find a reasonably priced pair.
• Crafted Accessories: 8+ LQ recommended per accessory. Can go up to 12, but it's very hit or miss, and requires Tier 3 materials to craft, which makes them stupidly expensive.
• Renda Langit: Requires completion of Order of the Grook. -1 to Teleport's cost goes a looooong way when it comes to reducing mana drain/min.
• King of Hearts: Because of Renda Langit, at 94+ Intelligence, you can get 1 Mana teleports. 129 Intelligence is required for 1 cost TP w/o Renda. Can be used to reset Teleport cost with Heal.
  
• Nepta Floodbringer: Damage switch. Remember to cast Heal with KoH before you switch to avoid unnecessarily high mana consumption for Meteor/Ice Snake.