Sick of the World of Warcraft legacy rep grind? Having to earn legacy reputation across each of your characters individually has long been called out by players as one of the key mechanics Blizzard’s fantasy MMORPG handles in an inferior way to competitor FFXIV. Thankfully, World of Warcraft game director Ion Hazzikostas reveals that changing this frustrating system is part of his team’s plans – but don’t expect to see it for a while.
Speaking to Hazzikostas in an interview ahead of upcoming WoW Dragonflight patch 10.1, Embers of Neltharion, Dan ‘MrGM’ Carter asks whether the system, which he calls a “gatekeep for alts,” is planned to see any changes. “In the future, definitely,” Hazzikostas replies, although he begins his answer with the immediate caveat that the team is more focused on new content than adjustments to legacy systems.
The WoW director does admit that systems such as legacy rep being handled on a per-character basis is a problem, however. “We definitely understand the pain point – a brand new class comes out, you want to play an Evoker, but that means leaving behind things that feel hard-won and tied to past characters. We know that doesn’t feel great.”
“In general, the direction we’ve been moving as a team is, y’know, tearing down those barriers between your characters and letting your accomplishments as a player stand for themselves,” Hazzikostas continues. “This is one of those remaining barriers, it’s one I do want us to get to, but it’s not a priority in the immediate short-term.”
For now, then, you’ll probably have to keep earning all that legacy rep on your alt characters independently. Hearing the team’s continued intent to push towards such changes is good news, though; it marks a shift from the old style of WoW, which felt like a game that was designed to eat up as many of your free hours as possible, to a model that’s more respectful of players and recognises that a game you play all the time doesn’t need to be a game you play all the time.
If you’d rather focus on just a couple of classes for now, then, take a look at our WoW Dragonflight tier list to see what’s strongest in the latest expansion. You’ll also want to check you’re running the best WoW addons for Dragonflight in 2023 to have the best experience possible.