The Ideal legendary system was in Firelands, and it can be improved, with a caveat.

[Motorman]

Legendaries cause so much unrest that it would probably be a good idea to move away from them and only keep some cosmetic legendaries as fun rewards that are simply "depleted" and only work for transmogs. It would still cause unrest but at least noone would imagine they are missing power because they didn't get it.

[Seiken3]

Mm, I'd say it laid a good idea of how it should be achieved, but had a lot of improvements. It should be available to those outside guilds as well, but make it faster/easier to do it through a guild to encourage being in a guild.
Blizzard's problem for a while now is defining what it is. Is it a MMO where everyone can do everything, or is it an MMO where only those who put real effort through teams and cooperation will get the highest rewards? An MMO shouldn't always pave the way for those who play solo, but of course - allow it to be done that way, to some degree. Yes, it is actually possible AND ALLOWED to say you're playing the game wrong. Personally I'd try to please the larger group of players and accept crying from the smaller groups than trying to cater to everyone, leaving everyone crying either way.

So until Blizzard actually can grow a pair and decide how they want to define themselves and their game, I fear it will be a long time till we get a legendary-system that works well.

[neescher]

No it didnt happen all the time.

I don't know what server you were on, but yes, it happened all the time. Maybe you didn't experience it first hand, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen a lot. The realm forums were filled with threads about that shit.

[Stormxraven]

No way, i was in a guild where a mage who got the first one left the day after and migrated to another server. Like mentioned several times it was a time bomb for guilds

[glowpipe]

Legendary systems was a way to add new shit we were missing from talents. Now we are getting talent systems back and legendaries is a ting of the past. There won't be a new legendary system and there shouldn't be one. Straight from the developers mouth

[Fight4Fun]

Firelands was 11\10. Absolute peak

[LazarusLong]

Legendaries cause so much unrest that it would probably be a good idea to move away from them and only keep some cosmetic legendaries as fun rewards that are simply "depleted" and only work for transmogs. It would still cause unrest but at least noone would imagine they are missing power because they didn't get it.

I second this. Although I think that Ashjra'kamas - style can also work, when the story makes sense.

[Elias1337]

No way, i was in a guild where a mage who got the first one left the day after and migrated to another server. Like mentioned several times it was a time bomb for guilds

Nobady says it didnt happen. It happen but in only small minor cases and such thing should never be considered as issue. You cant and you should never try protect players from this social problems becouse you will end up with game where everything is homogenoized and social elements completly in ruins.

[stoffe]

I perfer mop system better then. When we had to level up our backs and the legendary gem.

[Relapses]

I'd rather them being a reward for solo challenges, like mage tower but harder.

Did you not see the absolute shit show that was Timewalking Legion Mage Tower rewards after they were added? People straight up suck at this game, putting player power behind a solo challenge will cause the playerbase to revolt.

[Zantera]

There's been good and bad ways of incorporating legendaries but for me personally I don't miss the days where you needed your guild's backing to get a legendary, or even worse with something like the warglaives or the healer mace in Ulduar where you very clearly had to pick favorites.

[pahbi]

Sorry but I hated that system.

My favorite legendary system was in legion where you did character and story related quests and got a legendary weapon.

IMHO every legendary should have a backstory and lore and require a quest to acquire. Not a horribly long quest, for weapons, a few hours will suffice. For rings, trinkets and armor, maybe a week of persistent effort.

[Stormxraven]

Nobady says it didnt happen. It happen but in only small minor cases and such thing should never be considered as issue. You cant and you should never try protect players from this social problems becouse you will end up with game where everything is homogenoized and social elements completly in ruins.

doesnt mean we should drop systems that we know will cause agro either, and i don't think it was such a minority as you think just judging by some of the other comments

[OokOok]

You know who caused the current state of borrowed power non sense that's ruining the game the last 6 years?

People who complained about legendaries.

"Merr it's not fair my guild can't kill baron geddon, everyone get's a legendary but us!!! and now TBC is out next week so we'll never get one."
"Wahh it's not fair my guild isn't able to kill hard content and we don't get cool orange glaives or a bow!!! we can't even clear karazhan after 2 years"
"Wub wub This game is anti casual!!! it's been 2 years and my guild is still working on Malygos and don't have the gear to enter ICC to get orange axes!!!"
"It's not faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaair, our guild still hasn't cleared throne of tides yet. It's only been out a year give us more time we want cool dragon orange staff!!!"

When everytime blizzard opens their website and it gets flooded with crying casuals about orange things finally they do what they do in trying to make everyone happy because that means more money.
"You get an orange weapon! and you get one! and you and you and you"

[cparle87]

I guess my server was pretty small in TBC so if anyone did the poaching, it was me . . .
Now I fell bad.

Google up "TBC attunement chart". It's terrifying. Get revered with every rep, then do every heroic, then do every raid working your way up. Most heroics and raids have to be done multiple times for different branches of the chain.

[Claymore]

I COMPLETELY agree with the OP, I think Dragonwrath is the epitome of what a Legendary should be, in every sense. It's the kind of item that actually made you WANT to be part of a guild, especially letting multiple people progress on different stages at the same time.

Only change I might make, is that in addition to the GUARANTEED quest items (which can be master-looted and given to someone designated by the guild), maybe have a chance for an additional RNG drop for each person on the quest. So even if you're not "the guy" your guild chose to get the Legendary, you still have incentive to show up.

I also loved the Guild-wide Pet it would unlock, as it gave others an incentive to continue running the content to make sure you got it.

Honestly, the only change I might make is that, if it's NOT another city-wide announcement (which was super cool, but I would understand if they didn't want to repeat that every time), then at the very least, make it something cool for your Guild to show up for and maybe even root for you, something like a solo boss-fight that your guild can watch you defeat.

Comparatively, when I got my Fangs of the Father, it was honestly kind of a buzzkill. My guild wasn't able to come watch, there was no "big event" to witness, no pet or anything for the guild itself, and also the daggers themselves look pretty lame. The stats and procs were amazing at the time, but that's pretty much it.

[Alkizon]

I'm still with this stuff.