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How the Legacy system works in WoW: Forever
Account-wide challenges earn Legacy Points, each character spends them on its own perks, and a cap is meant to stop new players falling too far behind.
Blizzard has set out how the Legacy system in WoW: Forever works. It is an account-wide progression system. It focuses on exploring the game rather than on power progression alone. Blizzard lists 65 Legacy Challenges in 6 categories: classes, tradeskills, player versus player, adventure, dungeons and raids. Each completed challenge earns 1 Legacy Point. Points are shared across your Battle.net account and are available to all your non-Hardcore characters.
The system opens when you earn your first point. For most players that will be when their first character reaches level 25. Reaching 150 in a non-gathering primary tradeskill, or exploring the entire world map, also unlocks it. In game it sits behind the shield icon on the menu, or the Y key by default.
Each character spends the account's points on its own perks, in 3 trees: Professions, Adventure and Resourcefulness. Characters spend them independently, so each one can specialise in different activities. At launch the cap is 16 points per character. Blizzard says the cap stops new players falling so far behind that they cannot catch up. It also means alts are not needed for perks: Blizzard says all character advantages can be unlocked on a single character, which can earn up to 29 points on its own.
Points also build up across your whole account and unlock toys and cosmetic items. There are 4 rewards at launch: the Replica Ironforge Air Rifle toy, the Spectral Bear Cub pet, the Spectral Bear Tabard and the Reins of the Spectral Bear mount. The rewards unlock at 15, 25, 40 and 55 points, with the mount at 55.
Hardcore will not be available at launch. When it arrives, challenges earned in Hardcore will count in every other ruleset, but not the other way round. PvP challenges cannot be completed in Hardcore, so Blizzard plans 12 Hardcore-specific challenges for that launch. It also plans new challenges with every content release, along with new perks and more rewards.
What it means for gold
The Legacy system is a progression system. Blizzard's post covers progression and does not discuss the gold market or EU realms. A few perks do cut what a single character spends: Bartering reduces the gold price of items bought from vendors, Frequent Flier makes flight paths cheaper, and Reagent Economy removes the need for vendor-bought class reagents. Each perk is bought for one specific character, and every character spends its points independently. Unlearning spent points costs gold at a class trainer. The sources do not say how any of this will affect gold demand or prices on EU servers.
Source: Wowhead