The Legacy System in World of Warcraft: Forever replaces the Achievements in other versions of WoW, and this time everything you achieve in one character is another toon’s to enjoy. Milestones you ordinarily just gloss by become moments that can improve your next playthrough, so the Legacy System is Blizzard’s way of motivating you to get up and get to leveling.
But the Legacy System goes beyond just achieving things. When you finish an objective within the Legacy System, you also earn Legacy Points. And this is spent on buffs all your characters can enjoy. So how exactly should you approach this?
Table of contents
Accessing the Legacy System
If you can’t see the Legacy System just yet, don’t worry, as it’s locked behind earning your first Legacy Point. This means you’ll unlock it when you reach one of these conditions:
- Reach Level 25 with your current character
- Skill up to 150 with a non-gathering Primary Profession
- Explore the entire World Map
After that, you can access the Legacy System by pressing the “Y” key or the shield icon on the menu.
The rundown on Legacy Points
Just like Achievements in the OG WoW experience, Legacy Challenges in Forever are surprisingly straightforward to accomplish. Instead of relying on hyper-specific boss targets or actions, you’re pretty much set to finish all your Legacy Challenges as long as you try to play everything WoW has to offer.
Here’s a quick rundown on how many possible points you can earn across each category:
| Category | Milestone and points | Should you earn it via alts |
|---|---|---|
| Classes | 3 points: As you play a Class, get a point when you reach Level 25, 45, and 60 | Yes. When you make a new character of each different Class and achieve the capstone, you can earn a total of 27 points |
| Tradeskills (Professions) | 3 points: When you train a non-gathering Primary Profession, get a point when you skill up to 150, 225, and 300 | Yes and no. You can train a Primary Profession to 300 and get the point, then retrain another one If you want to keep the trained Primary Profession, use an alt |
| Player vs. Player | 5 points: Get a point when you reach Rank 3, 7, 10, 13, and 14 4 points: Reach Exalted with each Battleground reputation 3 points: In the Field of Honor’s PvP Season’s Journey, get a point when you finish the quests for Week 4, 7, and 10 | No, unless your alt is specifically tailored to PvP; then they will most likely earn the rewards. |
| Open World | 1 point: Explore the world map on the same character 1 point: Complete the Lord Valthalak dungeon set questline | No, as your character can easily complete this on their own |
| Dungeons | 1 point: Defeat the final boss in all Level 15-25 dungeons 1 point: Defeat the final boss in all Level 26-45 dungeons 1 point: Defeat the final boss in all Level 46-60 dungeons | Yes, especially if you want to explore new alts whenever you reach those point thresholds |
| Raids | 1 point: Defeat Onyxia 1 point: Defeat all 13 Hyjal Summit bosses 1 point: Defeat all 8 Barrow Deeps bosses | Yes, especially if you’re finding it hard to defeat the bosses and want to try a more raid-compatible build |
Again, Legacy Points are account-wide, so pressure is on to earn these points as soon as possible.
The launch condition on Legacy Points
With the current state of unlockables, Blizzard said you can spend up to 16 Legacy Points for your first character so you’re not pressured into chasing progress with alts.
Respec your Legacy Points
You may respec your Legacy Points in the same way you can respec your Talent Points. Just follow these steps:
- Go to your Class Trainer
- Ask them to reset your Legacy Talents
- Pay 1 Silver
This won’t work after you acquire Talented, since this Legacy Perk reduces the levels needed to unlock Class Talents. In that case, you need to go to your Class Trainer and reset your Class Talents first for 1 Silver, and only then should you reset your Legacy Talents.
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Spending Legacy Points to get Legacy Perks
As you level up in WoW: Forever and improve in different areas, you’ll likely have accumulated some Legacy Points but have no idea where to put them. If you go to the Legacy Tree, you’ll see three main branches where you can spend your Legacy Points.
Similar to Class specs, they also affect different aspects of gameplay. But this time around, these affect the way all characters in your account interact with the world. Here’s a brief glimpse of each, and ranking where you could best spend your Legacy Points:
Adventure
You know how sometimes your adventuring instincts mean you can be a great explorer or know your way around difficult terrain? The Adventure Legacy Perks are similar to that, where they can help your character enjoy their experience with the open world without necessarily focusing on combat:
- Talented: You can unlock Talent Points every 5 Levels instead of 10 Levels, but your maximum is still 51.
- Well-Rested: Get more Rested XP and increase the maximum Rested XP you can accumulate.
Aside from those two priorities, here are the rest of the Perks:
- Thrill of Adventure: Get a small amount of Health and Mana after non-trivial kills, helping you survive more in the wild.
- High Alert: You have increased stealth detection outside Battlegrounds, which is perfect if you want to avoid pesky Rogue ganks.
- Field Guide: Camping features no longer need a 1-hour cooldown between placements.
- Field Medicine: Recently Bandaged debuff (stops you from applying another bandage after doing the first one) is reduced (except in Battlegrounds, Dungeons, and Raids)
- Frequent Flier: Get reduced costs of flying around, and they now happen much faster.
Professions Tree
Legacy Perks here mainly affect the way you interact with your Professions throughout your accounts. Some Legacy Perks boost your leveling potential, gain extra items, or help you gather and craft more:
- Bartering: Reduces the price of items sold by vendors, which means it’s easier to access items for your leveling journey.
- Working Overtime: Gives you a boost in the odds of skilling up on all Professions, which is great if you’re gearing up to get as many Talent Points as possible.
Aside from those two you should prioritize, here are the rest of the Profession Perks:
- Bountiful Harvest: There’s a higher chance of finding a Scarce Resource with your gathering Professions.
- Performance: You can sometimes get a boost in Merchant’s Favor from either faction.
- Master Chef: Your Cooking has a chance of producing more output.
- Luremaster: Your Fishing may yield an extra fish.
- Dedicated Study: A daily cooldown that can help skill up faster or give you free Elemental Essences (if they all reach 300)
Resourcefulness
If your character’s lore revolves around a “family” of adventurers, then this Legacy Tree is the in-universe explanation of “adventuring is in the genes.” When you unlock points in this Legacy Tree, you gain some advantages specifically related to combat and dungeoning. They’re not straight-up buffs, but they help make questing easier:
- Gourmand: Increases the duration of food buffs, which is always good since you never stop fighting when you’re leveling.
- Permanence: Increases the duration of buffs from camping, the raid, and your party. If you’re already playing with a team, prioritize getting this Legacy Perk.
- Reinforce: Reduces durability loss from death, which can help you save Gold for more expensive stuff, such as your first Mount.
Aside from those three priorities, here are the rest of the Resourcefulness Perks:
- For Great Honor: Gives you more Honor Points, which is helpful if you want to focus on PvP.
- Reagent Economy: Class Abilities no longer require Reagents, and Tier 1 Campaign Features don’t need materials to craft anymore, letting your team access basic buffs quickly.
- The Quick and the Dead: You move faster on death, and you get party and raid buffs for free upon your resurrection.
- Diplomat: Get more Reputation.
Exclusive Legacy Rewards
Earning a specific number of Legacy Points can unlock Legacy Rewards that are only obtainable through the Legacy System. There are four to unlock, the last of which you only earn once you earn 55 Legacy Points:
| Reward | Legacy Points needed | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Replica Ironforge Air Rifle | 15 | Toys that Stun other players and keep score as you use them against other air riflemen |
| Spectral Bear Cub | 25 | A spectral bear inspired by the Dwarven Hunter in the Forever cinematic sequence |
| Spectral Bear Tabard | 40 | Game exclusive |
| Reins of the Spectral Bear | 55 | Game exclusive |
Legacy Challenges with Hardcore Ruleset
According to Blizzard, the upcoming Hardcore Ruleset will use the Legacy System in a different way compared to other rulesets. When Hardcore launches, it’s a permadeath mode with always-on PvP, so one wrong move can kill that toon and force you to switch it back to any of the other rulesets. Here’s how Hardcore will affect your Legacy earnings:
- 12 exclusive Legacy Challenges
- Hardcore won’t reflect any Legacy Challenges you already accomplished
- Legacy Challenges finished in Hardcore will reflect in other rulesets
World of Warcraft: Forever is available on PC and macOS.
