Path of Exile 3.28 is set to launch on Friday, March 6th,with buy POE currency,with the full reveal livestream scheduled for Thursday, February 26th, eight days prior. As always, the community is already deep into speculation—and this time, there’s plenty to chew on: a potential new lore thread involving a mysterious character named Sesh the Weeping Black, and strong signals from the developers that Tier 17 maps may finally be getting a much-needed overhaul.

Let’s break down what we know so far—and why 3.28 could be one of the most important endgame patches in years.

A Possible League Theme: The Return of Sesh the Weeping Black?

The first hints about 3.28’s possible theme didn’t come from an official teaser, but from a job listing for a voice acting role tied to a character named Sesh the Weeping Black. While this is far from confirmation, it lines up with several existing pieces of lore scattered across older and newer items.

Sesh appears in flavor text from old Metamorph scarabs (now removed after the mechanic’s retirement) that tell a grim story:

Rusted Scarab suggests Sesh was rejected by his people and taken in by the Order of the Djinn.

Polished Scarab reads like a warning, implying he pushed necromancy too far.

Gilded Scarab describes his removal from the Order and the erasure of his records.

Winged Scarab tells of his death at the hands of Garacan in the desert—and of his mindless legions left scattered across Wraeclast without a master.

On top of that, two relatively recent uniques—The Dark Monarch (3.26) and The Hallowed Monarch (3.27)—feature flavor text in the form of a conversation between Sesh and Sekhema Orbala (who later becomes Garacan). The exchange appears to take place shortly before Sesh’s death, further reinforcing the idea that this character’s story isn’t finished yet.

This doesn’t necessarily mean a Metamorph reboot. More likely, it points to another lore bridge between PoE 1 and PoE 2, similar to what we saw with Breach content in 3.27. A resurrection—or spiritual return—of Sesh could be a narrative hook for the new league, giving Grinding Gear Games a way to expand Wraeclast’s history while pushing the timeline forward.

The Real Headliner: Tier 17 Maps and the Endgame Problem

While the lore is intriguing, the biggest practical topic around 3.28 is Tier 17 maps—and the growing sense that they simply aren’t in a good place.

What Tier 17s Were Meant to Be

Tier 17 maps were originally introduced as a bridge between normal pinnacle bosses and Uber bosses:

Harder than regular endgame maps

Featuring unique modifiers, monsters, and bosses

Dropping fragments used to access Uber encounters

Before their introduction, Uber bosses were accessed via Atlas keystones that transformed normal pinnacle encounters into Uber versions. That system lasted for several leagues, but it had two major flaws:

There was no meaningful difficulty step between normal pinnacles and Ubers—the jump felt brutal and unpredictable.

Using normal pinnacle fragments for Uber fights felt wasteful unless you were fully committed to running Ubers.

Patch 3.24 tried to fix this by splitting access and rewards—and by making Tier 17 maps the stepping stone. On paper, that made sense. In practice, it created a new set of problems.

How Tier 17s Became a Balance Nightmare

At launch, Tier 17 maps were unmodifiable. If you rolled a set of brutal modifiers that your build couldn’t handle—and didn’t have the right tools—you were simply stuck. Some of this was intentional: the idea was that not every build should be able to run every Tier 17.

But things changed quickly.

In 3.24.0b, Tier 17s became modifiable with Chaos Orbs, and their exclusive modifiers started granting more quantity and rarity.

In 3.24.1, more Tier 16 modifiers were added to the pool, and Tier 17-exclusive mods began granting huge bonuses to pack size, item rarity, currency, maps, and scarabs.

These changes solved some frustrations—but introduced a bigger issue: Tier 17s became the best farming content in the game.

If your build could handle them, you were strongly incentivized to farm Tier 17s over Tier 16s. Combined with the “risk scarab + map mod effect” meta, this pushed the game toward:

Extremely oppressive modifier stacks

A tiny pool of viable builds

Heavy reliance on archetypes that can ignore or trivialize bad modifiers

This is a big part of why certain setups (like Trickster and Juggernaut variants) dominated for so long: they could bypass the very downsides that make Tier 17s unbearable for most builds.

The result? Reduced build diversity and an endgame that feels more like a checklist of tolerable modifiers than a sandbox of playstyles.

The Developers Know It’s a Problem

This isn’t just player salt—it’s something the devs have openly acknowledged in Q&As with community figures like ZiggyD.

In discussions around 3.27, Jonathan Rogers and Mark Roberts were refreshingly blunt:

Tier 17s are not in the right spot.

There’s a tension between “interesting, challenging modifiers” and what players actually enjoy playing.

The fact that Tier 17s are both the most rewarding content and the gate to Ubers creates conflicting incentives.

The current meta (stacking risk, stacking mod effect) is not fun and not healthy.

Mark even went as far as saying he’d be very surprised if 3.28 doesn’t bring a more drastic shift, and that Tier 17s likely need a full redesign, not just more band-aid fixes.

There’s also an extra hint from Octavian, who has worked extensively on Tier 17s in the past and reportedly said he’s excited about what he’s working on for 3.28. That doesn’t guarantee anything—but combined with the Q&A comments, it strongly suggests big changes are on the table.

What Might Change in 3.28?

Nothing is confirmed yet, but based on developer comments, a few goals seem clear:

Decouple “best farming content” from “Uber access tickets”

Restore Tier 16 maps as the primary endgame farming baseline

Make Tier 17s a true bridge challenge, not a mandatory loot treadmill

Reduce the economic and build-viability penalty caused by extreme modifiers

Encourage more build diversity, not less

In short: Tier 17s should feel like optional, exciting challenges, not a compulsory, hyper-optimized grind that only a handful of builds can tolerate.

Final Thoughts: A Pivotal Patch Incoming

Between the lore hints surrounding Sesh the Weeping Black and the very real possibility of a Tier 17 redesign, Patch 3.28 is shaping up to be a make-or-break moment for the current endgame structure.

We’ll know a lot more once the full reveal hits on February 26th, but if the developers follow through on what they’ve been saying, 3.28 could finally fix one of the most persistent endgame pain points—and open the door to a healthier, more diverse meta going forward with POE currency.

For now, all eyes are on the teasers. And if history is any guide, they should start dropping very soon.