On my initial throwaway wand-using char after the wand changes, I was able to find aura and barrier sleeks almost as soon as I could use them, with little effort. At the time, limited shield wands were plentiful. This was a char I should have kept and taken more seriously.
On my next 4 wand-using chars this year I really wanted to succeed in, where I had over a hundred hours invested each and 25-30k in observation experience (along with detect artifact), I would usually just find amber, if I found that at all. One of my chars actually found a barrier, but it was way at the end of his life, so he didn't get much use from it. I have never found a sleek shield wand with the new system unless it was one left in a container when somebody else passed by unknowingly. And since ABS is so scarce, my source for limited shield wands have become really hard to obtain. The ones I can get are so difficult it isn't worth the effort, same with the limited barrier I can find.
I know I am doing something wrong here, but I'm not alone... I've collaborated with dozens of other wand-users during my hunt. And my list of known, formerly-known and suspected ABS locations is huge... I have well over a hundred spots I've compiled.
If I cared about scroll-using or talisman-using classes I would have it made, since I've found craploads of aura/shield/stoneskin scrolls and aura/shield staves, but they aren't potent enough for mages when compared to the durations and numbers of charges a sleek can provide.