Your first Legacy point: three ways to earn it, and why one character is enough

On 24 October, Warcraft’s X account asked a simple question: which WoW: Forever Legacy tree are you putting your first points into? The options were Professions, Adventure, Resourcefulness and a joke answer, “There’s a Legacy System??” A social media poll measures the people who answered it, not the player base. The joke option is still a fair prompt, so here is how the first point works, according to Blizzard’s Legacy system guide of 23 September.

Three ways to the first point

The Legacy system opens when you earn your first Legacy point. For most players, that happens when their first character reaches level 25. There are two other routes: reach 150 skill in a non-gathering primary tradeskill, or explore the entire world map. After that, the system sits behind the shield icon on the menu, or the Y key.

Earning, spending and collecting are separate

• Earning is account-wide. There are 65 Legacy Challenges in six categories, each worth one point, and the points are shared by all your non-Hardcore characters.
• Spending is per character. Each character spends the account’s points independently across three trees: Professions, Adventure and Resourcefulness. One character can specialize in crafting while another leans into leveling. At launch, each character can spend at most 16 points.
• Collecting runs alongside. Accumulated points unlock account rewards. Four are planned for launch: the Replica Ironforge Air Rifle toy, a Spectral Bear Cub pet, the Spectral Bear Tabard and the Reins of the Spectral Bear mount.

One character is enough

The guide says every character advantage can be unlocked on a single character. Its arithmetic: one character can earn 3 points from leveling, up to 6 from tradeskills, 12 from PvP, 2 from Adventure and 6 from dungeons and raids. That is up to 29, well above the 16-point cap.

Not every challenge can be completed on day one. The three raid challenges need raids that open on 9 December, and Hardcore is not available at launch. Beta players were granted 16 points on 8 October to test the system, according to the development notes; that was a test grant, not a starting balance for launch.

Which tree first?

That depends on the character, and because spending is per character, your second character can answer differently. The poll’s question has no single right answer, and only one character at a time has to live with it.