Right of Way

[MaxCarnage]

So, I'm curious, what do you guys do in terms of player-marked AOE?

Here's the thing, most people by instinct run away from AOEs, and a lot of the time, when I am running away from people who are marked with one, they keep running alongside me. Now, I know latency is a thing, and people often see you move at a different pace than you see yourself. So what is the best approach?

Personally, if I am marked with an AOE, I move away from the boss, but I will stop moving and let others have the chance to move away from me to try and avoid the "chasing" scenario.

On the other side of it, though, I have had it where I am not marked with an AOE, so I don't move, and someone who is marked with one decides to stop on top of me.
You ever try to move out of the way for a stranger and you both keep side-stepping in the same direction? This is that scenario but with mechanics. So are you the type of person who, when marked with AOE, keep running until you're away from everyone, or do you expect people to move out of your space?

I think it has to be done within the circumstance, but I'm curious to see where people stand.

[Limecat]

I'm on satellite internet with massive ping. I assume that anything horrible that resolves quickly already did before I could do anything about it, and that anyone else looking at me has already reacted to my standing still for a second or more by taking it as a cue to go somewhere else. If it's something with a long wind-up, I'll go wherever I think I need to to avoid ganking the pt, and hope for the best.

[WhiteArchmage]

Normally it'd be "whoever CAN move without losing DPS, moves." This means BLM, then most of the casters, then healers, are lower on the "needs to move" priority. For my static, since one of our members has to deal with AUS ping, it's "[RDM] doesn't move, everyone adjust." It's lead to a few "The only people you can't bully out of [E12S Titan Marker Spots] are [RDM] and [PLD]."

...for everyone else it HAS led to a couple "Stop chasing me!" "No, you're chasing me!" moments.

[SenorPatty]

So, there's several factors that I process when I'm dealing with an aoe marker: which role I play, what role my party members play, how many people are being targeted by aoes, distance and most importantly, damage done by aoes. There's ways to deal with these factors and the best way to deal with them is to effectively retain in your head your party numbers and composition and taking note of dmg and type of aoe done by boss for future reference. Another thing that people tend to forget: not all aoe maked players need to be perfectly far from one another. If anything you can still take the same amount of damage you would if you were completely separated even if your circles overlap a little. But that's the keyword: a little.

Exhibit A: I'm melee dps (typically samurai) and most of my co-dps are ranged. Me and two other dps in a 8-man situation get targeted by aoes and there are no hot zones in the arena.

My solution: I don't move. Ranged dps have the advantage of dpsing from anywhere. There's no cost for them to move (with obviously some of it for BLM). I don't. If they do stack on me, I will only move if:

-The stacked dmg that I remember will 100% kill me or

-There's leg room for me to move AND dps.


Exhibit B:

I'm ranged dps with a mix of other ranged jobs or melee jobs. Everyone gets targeted but the boss has turned certain sections of the arena into hot zones.

My solution: I stay put in the safe zone. Gotta remember that most aoe marks actually give you time to deal with it so there's no sense to immediately if you are in a safe spot. That being said, make sure you maximize the spot. Try to give leg room in the direction that has the least players but don't overreach. Normally, by maximizing the safe area and staying put, party members can focus better on their own safety rather than yours (that's what usually trips up people).

Exhibit C:

You got no marker on you but some people do and they're headed your way. You have no way to outrun them or you try but they still follow you (any role, them or you).

My solution: Stay put and take the dmg. Again, it's all a matter of knowing if a mech is going to kill you outright or not. If you know it's not, better to stay and avoid messing other players who executed their situations better.


I was going to initially give a very simple "just take the dmg and move on" but I felt like that was going to communicate the wrong type of message I'm sending.

[Doozer]

What I don't understand is how two people can be standing near each other, one with an AoE and one without, and they've moved far enough apart that the other person won't get hit. Then at the very last second, the person with the AoE sidesteps into the other person for no reason and hits them because there's no time to react. It's shocking to see how poorly people manage not hitting other people with AoEs, especially in late game content.

[Sunhwapark]

Relative to the jobs I play, I tend to give right of way to BLM first and then melee classes and usually just try to be adaptive for the other ranged classes. Getting hit by other AOEs I never really mind, exception being when players somehow come together to form an intersection of a complex venn diagram around you. If I happen to be playing as BLM I am usually far enough away to not be disturbed by aoes so that I can casually drink tea during my fire 4 phase.

I Mostly play SCH/AST/BLM though and never really touch the melee or phys ranged, so I do wonder what their approach is.

[Vahlnir]

I usually pick a spot and commit to it, regardless of what job I'm playing at the time or what the jobs of others are. Anyone who sticks around only has themselves to blame. In my personal experience this tends to work out a lot better.

[SherlottaEryut]

I dont really think when I get targeted with an AOE... What I do is sprint like hell and let Jesus take the wheel.

[Sove92]

If everyone is getting an AoE, I max melee range to only get hit by one. If it's only a few players with no additional mechanics tied to them, I do pretty much nothing about. It doesn't matter if I hit a player without an AoE or someone with an AoE hits me. The healers will do the same amount of AoE healing anyway, so there is no benefit in dodging as long as you don't overlap two or more.

[Breakbeat]

I think it has to be done within the circumstance

It does, and I figure it out on the fly each and every time. Within less than a second I can see whether I should move, or folks are moving. You micro-manage those tenths of a second to get everything right. The better you are at that, the better you are at handling incoming AoE. Skills transfer over to when you are the one doing the avoiding (or stacking) of someone else's AoE.

If someone chases after me when I have an AoE they should avoid, then they'll get hit with it, pretty simple LOL. Can't help that. I don't have time to communicate to that person that they should stay away from me. Oh, well.

If I have an AoE that should be stacked, and no one is stacking, I generally have time to yell 'STACK', sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.