[FireStormer]

It's still early January 2026 and the league hangover is already doing the rounds. You log in, stand in the hideout, wulgaryzm through a stash tab you swore you'd tidy, and then log out again. Same cycle every time. If you're trying to stay sharp while we wait for the next announcement, a lot of folks end up poking at guides, rerolling "practice" starters, or even looking at Poe1 Boosting to skip the slow bits and get back to the parts that actually feel like playing.

Watching GGG's calendar

GGG loves a pattern, even when they pretend they don't. With PoE1 support running alongside the PoE2 drumbeat, it still feels like we're headed for a late-February 3.28 launch. The 27th is the sort of date I'd circle, but a mid-month surprise isn't off the table if they're feeling brave. What matters more is the two-week ramp-up. Once the livestream gets teased, the real speculation begins: what gets buffed, what gets quietly nerfed, and which mechanic is going to flip the market on day one. You'll see it fast—trade chat turns feral, early uniques spike for no good reason, and everyone suddenly has an "insider" theory.

Starters that don't need a lottery win

I'm not trying to reinvent myself at league start. I want something that functions on scraps and doesn't punish me for having a job. Righteous Fire Chieftain is hard to ignore for that. It's the kind of build where you're mostly steering, not sweating, and it forgives sloppy gear while you stockpile upgrades. If you'd rather keep your hands busy, Toxic Rain Pathfinder still does the work—smooth mapping, cheap early gearing, and you can scale it without feeling like you hit a wall on day two. Explosive Arrow Ballista is still the low-budget boss answer as well, even if the damage has that little delay that can feel weird until you're used to it.

Protecting your weekend

The older I get, the less I enjoy the "earn the right to have fun" phase. Forty hours in the first weekend just to reach the same baseline every league. Nah. A lot of players pretend they love the chaos recipe grind, but you can tell they're miserable by Sunday night. And you know what usually causes the burnout: tiny upgrades taking forever. Fixing resists. Buying a six-link. Scraping together enough currency to stop dying in red maps. When you remove that friction, you play better. You learn the new mechanic, you actually craft, you take risks, you log off happy.

Getting to the good part

So for 3.28, my plan is simple: pick a starter that's proven, get atlas progress rolling, and don't let the economy gatekeep the fun builds. If I need a push—currency to smooth gear spikes, items to finish a setup, or just a faster path to endgame—I'm fine using u4gm because the delivery's quick and the whole process is straightforward, which means less time doom-scrolling trade and more time actually blasting maps.