Nothing like this has ever happened to me, and I've played this game at least bi-weekly since 11-11-11. I'm not saying I've never found the beacon before, but never in literally the first prize chest in the game. What are the odds of this?

Pretty slim because it spawns randomly in 153 different chests in the game.

I didn't know that. Thanks for the info. Does it happen to be player level activated in any way?

Probably as good as the odds of finding it anywhere else at any time... its location is randomly generated, so it's just a matter of how long it takes you to explore that particular location. Altho many people will explore BFB early on if they follow the prompts leading them to progress quickly through the MQ, the "first" prize chest in the game could be anywhere depending on the choices each player makes about where to go and what to do after leaving Helgen.

i have played more than 1200hours since 11/11/11 and last week was the first time that i've found the beacon, and have been in bleak falls barrow too xD (didn't even know about this quest before that, i love this game *-*)

It must be something undocumented with the new patch since I play many different characters and all of them of required level and I found Meridia's beacon with all of them just recently after new patch and 2 of them in Bleakfalls barrow. Before that I only had this quest when I went near Solitude to the temple of Meridia.

Honestly I thought it was in a set position in the game becasue in my last 3 play throughs it was in the same location in the game (chest next to the chick that has nettlebane)

I run about ten characters and after the last patch, I found the beacon with three of them on four subsequent nights. I don't know if it was just strange luck or something patch related. Before I'd found the beacon with one other character and sought it out after going to Merida's shrine with the others that did that quest.

I found it really early on with mine as well, basically first chest after I hit the appropriate level.

Whiteriver Watch, or whatever that bandit camp is called that is in the caves across the river from Whiterun

Don't know if anything changed with the latest patch but it's always been possible to trigger Meridia's quest by finding the beacon first by pure luck. Or you can be tasked with finding it (and have the location revealed to you) by visiting her temple first. The location of it has always been randomized among the 153 boss chests in the game, so that probably always included BFB.

However I will say that on five playthroughs I think I only found the thing once by chance.

Before the 1.6 patch, I had characters that could find it in the same location it would exist in when they found the Temple, and I have an early save with the Beacon in Embershard Mine. After 1.6 her Beacon will always appear in the Boss Chest in the Dungeon my character is clearing when they have reached the level to do the quest.