Waymark

Waymarks are beacons of light that can be placed on the ground. They are most commonly used in fights (particularly in high-end duties) to assist with positioning for mechanics and for orientation.

There are eight possible waymarks: four letters (A, B, C, D) and four numbers (1, 2, 3, 4). Letter waymarks have circular bases, and number waymarks have square bases. Waymarks have four different colors: red (A, 1), yellow (B, 2), blue (C, 3), and purple (D, 4).

Placement

Waymarks can be found in-game through the Party->Waymarks menu. This can be accessed with Shift+M keybind, which can be configured in System->Keybind->Shortcuts->Waymarks. This will bring up a user interface containing waymarks than can be placed, an option to clear all waymarks in the current location, and five slots for saving waymark presets.

Placed waymarks are also visible on the minimap.

In PvE, waymarks can only be altered or placed when not in combat. This restriction does not apply in PvE.

Usage

Position assignment (NA data centers)

Example waymark placement for Eden's Promise: Anamorphosis (Savage)

In North American data centers, players will usually place various waymarks at the start of a high-end duty to assign player positions. When all positions are assigned, the waymarks for the fight will be put up. (This practice is usually absent among players in European and Japanese data centers, who assign positions with macros). While waymark position assignment varies by fight, there are a few common assignments:

• A singular waymark (usually 1 or A) is placed to assign "clock" positions, in which each player claims a cardinal or intercardinal position along the waymark.
• Two waymarks are placed (usually 1 and 2). Players will move to either 1 or 2 to determine light party assignments consisting of 1 tank, 1 healer, and 2 DPS.

Orientation and positioning assistance

For the fight itself, waymarks are often placed in general locations (e.g. at the cardinals and intercardinals of the arena) to help with orientation, while in other cases, waymarks are placed at very specific positions to assist with positioning for certain mechanics. The waymark placement varies depending on the fight and the strategies that the party is using. Because waymarks can no longer be replaced in combat as of patch 5.1, the arena floor design of newer encounters often have natural markings that can be used for positioning.

In alliance raids, some players will place A, B, and C waymarks for certain encounters in which each alliance splits up, to indicate where each alliance should go to (e.g., Atomos in  The Labyrinth of the Ancients.