On PC at least, bringing items from a mission you "Returned to Camp" from does still work.
The fastest way to farm epic items is in the mission "
Order Of The One Light", thats the middle mission in the Lich hub. Run past the first room with enemies, go right, then jump over the wood/raft bridge thing to the left. Thats where the second enemy encounter is. Defeating these is necessary to proceed and unlock the first short rest. Take the rest, don't skip it. Run through the tunnel ahead and to the left - there will be trolls after you destroy urns, so dont. Theres a mini boss, a wraith, to the right - this is also the optional - and not where you want to go. You want to go up the slope to an open space with dark dwarves.
There is one named duergar caster here called "
Orun Bentblade". That's the target. Kill him. Die. Respawn at the short rest spot 200 feet back, run up to the room again and Orun Bentblade will be there as well. It's a 100% epic item drop and takes about a Minute to run up, kill, die and respawn.
Gather as many epics as you like. Leave the mission, do whatever other mission (Goblin Mage Boss is fastest) on whatever difficulty and get the items from the earlier mission after completion.
Ive done this for Drizzt and Bruenor for about an hour each and they're decked out in Level 4 and 5 epics and I can pretty much solo all missions on the second highest difficulty. Seeing all the maps, bosses and item art was enjoyable.