Stack Markers

[Absolia]

A question for those of you who know the game better than I do.

Can anyone recall the first dungeon/trial to use a stack marker as a mechanic? Had a dubious run of The Final Steps of Faith where there were two people who didn't seem to understand the concept at all (ran away when they had them, stood outside of them when not etc).

Had me wondering when is the first time you should come across it? Too long ago for me to recall when I first saw it. Am just kinda curious as to how reasonable their complete misunderstanding of it was. Thought they may well have been boosted, but I would have thought it would be something that happens earlier than final steps of faith, even if they were starting at 60?

[DrWho2010]

Thordan? not sure if it was the Singularity Reactor or not.

[Espritduo]

I want to say Echidna in the Void Ark was the first time that marker was used.

Nidhogg might very well be the first time in the MSQ that marker is used.

[ManuelBravo]

There are several places where the mechanic is used however I think Ark Ship raid was the first place and it also appeared with Sephiroth Traid.

[shoobiedoobie]

I think that may be the first time its seen in the MSQ. I remember not knowing what it was when I saw it the first time in that fight too. At most there's one previous fight that uses it. If new players are just focusing through the MSQ, its fairly likely they won't be familiar with it when reaching that instance.

[Rongway]

The marker appeared in T13, which, if I recall correctly, was its first appearance, though this was not the first compulsory duty to use it. Other duties used stack mechanics, but with different marks, such as the purple lightning mechanic in the Five Headed Dragon fight in World of Darkness.

In case people haven't seen the marker before, I like to do this:

/micon a waymark
/waymark 0
/waymark a <me>
/waymark b <me>
/waymark c <me>
/waymark d <me>

which will put a big stack of glowing waymarks on me. Or t, if you want.

[Canadane]

I'm pretty sure it was Thordan.
Though I don't recall if it was in the normal story mode so if people didn't do ex, they wouldn't have seen it.

They went and added it to Void Arks's Echidna. Before it was just a dark spot without the arrows, iirc.

[Hasrat]

For the uneducated, perhaps explain what stack marker you're referring to, with its associated mechanic? Cuz I haven't seen any of these, but I know there's plenty of fights that have some form of "group up to reduce damage," with several different markers.

[Frizze]

Going through the mandatory trials and dungeons in my mind(so not guaranteed to be right), Final Steps might be the first in the MSQ path with the stack marker and mechanic.

For the uneducated, perhaps explain what stack marker you're referring to, with its associated mechanic? Cuz I haven't seen any of these, but I know there's plenty of fights that have some form of "group up to reduce damage," with several different markers.

The one he's referring to is the 4 inward pointing arrows on the person about to be attacked. This is the most common form of "stack-up marker", though you arent wrong that there are other things theyve used to indicate "stand together for less damage".

[Hasrat]

As someone who hasn't seen it yet and is more familiar with previous iterations, let's all just hope I know what to watch for when it comes up (and I don't go into BLM tunnel vision mode...).

But really, I think that could be part of the problem. Maybe they're technically different mechanics, but if they're supposed to be handled the same, maybe it would've been best to maintain (or retroactively convert to) a single indicator.

Personally, I'm more familiar with the red arrow used in T5 and Sohm Al (and maybe elsewhere that I can't think of right now).