Waymark
Waymarks are beacons of light that players can place 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 Ctrl+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 30 slots for saving waymark presets.
In the above UI, note that hovering over a preset with the cursor will display the full name of the zone/duty and the date/time the preset was saved. Players can right-click a preset to overwrite it with a new one or delete it.
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 PvP.
Usage
Position assignment (NA data centers)
In North American data centers, players in Party Finder groups will usually place various waymarks at the start of a high-end duty to assign player positions. After all positions are assigned, the waymarks for the fight will be put up, and the party will engage the boss. (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 around the waymark by standing at that position. These function as generic spread positions for many mechanics.
- 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.
- Eight waymarks are placed in a certain pattern. Each player will claim one waymark to indicate their location for a mechanic that requires the party to spread out in which clock positions are unsuitable (some spread position assignments use fewer than eight waymarks).
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 5.2, the arena floor design of newer encounters often has natural markings that can be used for positioning. Examples of positioning assistance include:
- Indicating where a player should go if they receive a particular debuff or marker around their character
- Indicating where the party (or sub-group) should stack to resolve a mechanic, such as a split damage AoE
- Indicating a safe location to avoid an AoE attack from the boss
- Indicating where the boss should be positioned for a particular mechanic
In a typical high-end duty, the most common generic waymark placement is to place letters on the cardinals and numbers on the intercardinals (e.g., A north, 1 northeast, B east, 2 southeast, C south, 3 southwest, D west, 4 southwest).
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).
History
- Originally, only 3 waymarks (A, B, and C) were available.
- In patch ???, additional waymarks were added (up to 6)
- In patch 5.2, "3" and 4" were added, making a total of 8 waymarks. In addition, up to five waymark presets could be saved.
- This patch also disabled the alteration of waymarks during combat. This was apparently a response to the use of a third-party tool in the world first race for
The Epic of Alexander (Ultimate) that automatically changed the waymark configuration at certain points in the fight.
- This patch also disabled the alteration of waymarks during combat. This was apparently a response to the use of a third-party tool in the world first race for
- In patch ???, the number of presets was increased to 30.
External links
- Waymarks on the official UI guide.
- Using Waymarks on the official UI guide.
- Saving Waymark Placement on the official UI guide.