Sure has worked differently at least the last bunch of patches - the BF trainers did have better stuff every act.

Only hammer trainer I recall was the hermit in act 2 (cave in forest to NW of imp village) but there probably are others - I just got lazy (cash being almost infinite with the patches I played under) and bought at the BFs.

Reality is for those who cannot cope with fantasy. Fortunately, I can cope quite well.