World of Warcraft: Forever introduces an exciting new account-wide horizontal progression system—the Legacy System. It’s a whole new way to progress, focusing on exploring everything the game has to offer, rather than power progression alone.
This new system encourages players to level multiple characters of different classes and tradeskills and experience the journey all over again, however leveling alternate (alts) characters is not required to benefit from the system. All character advantages can be unlocked on a single character. The Legacy System has three major components: Legacy Challenges, Legacy Perks, and Legacy Rewards. Let’s take a deep dive look.
Legacy System Access: You gain access to the Legacy System as soon as you earn your first Legacy Point. For most players, that will be when their first character reaches level 25, though you can also unlock it by reaching 150 in a non-gathering primary tradeskill or exploring the entire world map. Once available, open the Legacy System by clicking on the Legacy icon (shield on the menu) or using the default hotkey (Y).
A Look at Legacy Challenges
Legacy Challenges work similarly to achievements in other versions of
World of Warcraft but are focused specifically on character progression. There are sixty-five Legacy Challenges in total organized into six different categories. Each challenge completed earns you one Legacy Point. These points are Battle.net account-wide and available to all your non-Hardcore characters.
Here are the points you can earn for each category:
- Classes: Total of 27 points
For each class, reach level 25, level 45, and level 60
Tradeskills: Total of 18 Points
- For each non-gathering primary profession, reach 150, 225, and 300 skill
Player vs. Player: Total of 12 points
- Reach ranks 3, 7, 10, 13, and 14 (5 points.)
- Reach Exalted with each Battleground reputation (4 points.)
- Complete the quest for week 4, 7, and 10 in the Field of Honor PvP Season’s Journey (3 points.)
Adventure: Total of 2 points
- Explore the entire world map on the same character
- Complete the Lord Valthalak dungeon set questline
Dungeons: Total of 3 points
- Defeat the final boss in all level 15 to 25 dungeons
- Defeat the final boss in all level 26 to 45 dungeons
- Defeat the final boss in all level 46 to 60 dungeons
Raids: Total of 3 points
- Defeat Onyxia
- Defeat all 13 Hyjal Summit bosses
- Defeat all 8 Barrow Deeps bosses
What are Legacy Perks?
Each of your characters can spend your account-wide Legacy Points to buy advantages for that specific character in three areas: Professions, Adventure, and Resourcefulness. Each character on your account can spend these points differently and completely independent of each other. So, you can specialize each of your characters in different types of activities.
One key detail to note is there is a cap on spending Legacy Points. At the launch of the game, you will be able to spend up to 16 points total on each character. This constraint solves a couple big issues. First, new players will not be so far behind established players that they can’t catch up. Second, 16 points can be reached on a single character, so it is not required to create alts. A single character can earn 3 points leveling, up to 6 points from tradeskills, 12 from PvP, 2 from Adventure, and 6 from Dungeons and Raids, for a total of up to 29 possible points without creating a second character. Let’s take a look at what each of the Legacy talent trees has to offer.
Professions
- Working Overtime increases your chance to gain a skill point in all tradeskills, including class-specific ones like Lockpicking.
- Bountfiful Harvest helps you find additional Scarce resources when mining, herbing, or skinning.
- Bartering reduces the gold price of items purchased from vendors.
- Performance bonus causes you to sometimes gain increased Merchant’s Favor from the Azeroth Commerce Authority or Durotar Supply and Logistics
These two new Alliance and Horde factions are a major source of new tradeskill activities.
- Master Chef grants a chance for your cooking recipes to produce additional results.
- Luremaster grants a chance to fish up extra fish
- Dedicated Study is a daily cooldown to help increase your tradeskills faster, or gain free Elemental Essences if they have all reached 300 skill
Adventure
- Well Rested increases the rested experience cap and allows rested experience to accumulate faster.
- Thrill of Adventure causes you to regain a small amount of health and mana after every non-trivial kill.
- High Alert increase stealth detection outside of battlegrounds.
- Field Guide reduces the 1-hour cooldown on placing camping features.
- Field Medicine reduces the duration of the Recently Bandaged debuff, but not in dungeons, raids, or battlegrounds.
- Talented allows players to unlock talent points up to 5 levels lower than normal.
- Frequent Flier reduces the cost of flights and speeds them up.
Resourcefulness
- Gourmand increases the duration of buffs from eating food.
- The Quick and the Dead makes dead players move faster when running back to their body and makes party and raid buffs free after resurrecting, speeding up wipe recovery.
- Reinforce reduces durability damage from death.
- For Great Honor increases Honor gains from PvP.
- Permanence increases the duration of party, raid, and camping buffs.
- Diplomat increases reputation gains.
- Reagent Economy causes class abilities to no longer require purchasable reagents, and tier 1 camping features to require no materials to craft.
Unlock Legacy Rewards
In addition to allowing you to spend Legacy Points in the Legacy Perk talent trees, Legacy Points accumulate on your entire account, unlocking toys and cosmetic items. At launch, there are four possible rewards to earn, with new ones planned for each content update.
- Replica Ironforge Air Rifle: This toy allows you to join a shootout with other players. These toy guns Stun other players and even keep score.
- Spectral Bear Cub: A new pet exclusive to the Legacy System, inspired by the Dwarven Hunter and his companion in WoW: Forever’s Cinematic.
- Spectral Bear Tabard: A new tabard exclusive to the Legacy System.
- Reins of the Spectral Bear: A new spectral mount exclusive to the Legacy System
What About Hardcore?
While Hardcore won’t be available at launch, when it is, it will have some special rules. Legacy Challenges completed in non-Hardcore rulesets will not show up in Hardcore. But, if you earn a Legacy Challenge in Hardcore, it will grant that challenge in all other rulesets. Furthermore, we know PvP Legacy Challenges can’t be completed in Hardcore. So, for Hardcore launch, we will have 12 new Legacy Challenges specific to the Hardcore experience.
Looking to the Future of the Legacy system
This system is in its infancy. We plan to introduce new Legacy Challenges in every new content release, with new ways to advance your account’s progression. That will also come with new Legacy Perks to unlock—in the existing trees for now—and new trees in the future. We also plan to introduce new Hardcore-specific Legacy Challenges and Legacy Perks in the future. With the new Legacy Points to earn, the Legacy Rewards track will expand, with additional cosmetic and toy items to unlock.
We’re excited for the future of the Legacy system, as a way to progress your entire account for years to come. With each new content release, there will be reasons to roll new characters, explore the game more deeply, and earn new perks and rewards. We’ll see you in Azeroth!
