The city of Gorowyn was abuzz with excitement this month as the Far Seas Caravan arrived at its docks to begin the city festival. The Flying Freebooters have joined the festivities and the Aether Racing course is once again available this month. The Aether Race and City Festival run concurrently and both end at 11:59pm PST on January 7th.

On the 20th of this month, the phases of the moon will once again be aligned, revealing the secret grottos. Moonlight Enchantments will begin at 12:01am PST on January 20th and will conclude at 11:59pm PST on January 21st. No new items are expected to be on the grotto merchants.

Since childhood, Aaronolis and Annalisa Swornlove have been drawn to Erollisi Marr, the goddess of Love and the Hunt. After the death of Erollisi, the siblings were heartbroken. Annalisa took her loss especially hard and was unable to come to grips with her grief. Aaronolis fears that his sister is falling into the clutch of a darkness that will consume her.

Seek out Aaronolis near the Cairn of the Huntress in Frostfang Sea to begin an adventure that will affect a change in Norrath's pantheon during the Goddess Risen event! This event will continue to run until 11:59pm PST on February 6th.

Looking for some player versus player fun? Install the Rift test client and join PvP players for a player run tournament!  The PvP & Warfront community of Rift are creating a weekly weekend tournament for PvPers from all Shards. Astute PvP fan Parfaite pointed us to a couple of threads on the official forums, where Bleeds and Am0n are doing the organizing.

The details are still taking shape, but under discussion are platinum prizes ranging from 500p to 1000p for 1v1, 3v3, and 5v5 tourneys. A ranking and ladder system is also under development. All games are player-designed and driven, and they want your input!

For more information check out this thread over on the official Rift forums.

For instructions on downloading Test and copying a character to the Alpha server, see our Rift Shards guide.

UPDATE: Shard of Love: A Healing Touch should be fixed:

The Shard of Love should be fixed now, just repatch your game client! International won't be getting the fix until later this evening.

Aaronolis Swornlove, a Priest of Love in New Halas, is growing more concerned about his sister's emotional state. He's looking for compassionate adventurers who might be willing to help her. Seek him out at the Cairn of the Huntress to embark on a quest to solve Priestess Annalisa's worries.

A Goddess Risen is a limited time world event that will begin on Thursday, December 15, 2011. After the jump check out a video where Nathan "Kaitheel" McCall gives us a sneak peek at one of the instances encountered during this event.

All EverQuest II servers are currently down for the Age of Discovery and Game Update 62: Freeport Reborn update. Your dedicated ZAM staff brings you our coverage of Age of Discovery and Game Update 62 material to help guide you with the new expansion features!

Adventuring

• Beastlord Class Guide
• Beastlord Warders
• City of Freeport Quest Series
• Freeport Housing (updated for GU62)
• A Traveler's Guide to the City of Freeport

Crafting

• Tradeskill Apprentices

Features

• Dungeon Maker
• EQII Share
• Mercenaries
• Reforging

World Events

• Frostfell

The season of giving and cheer will start on Tuesday, December 6, after the downtime that launches the Age of Discovery expansion. Will you create a new Beastlord before running to see Santa Glug, who has added seven new presents to his bag this year?

This year Frostfell introduces a new quest: Frostfell Decoration Committee, which is a bit like a crafting mission as you help the Frostfoot goblins decorate Permafrost.  The classic Grab 'n' Tag game has been retired, and players can play the new Frostfell Candy Grab in Antonica and Commonlands for fun prizes and Frozen Tokens of E'ci!

There are also three new recipe books for the craft-a-holics which include such items as the Candy-Stripped Sword Of Doom, a Holiday Candy Bowl, and a variety of floating Fairy Lights!

ZAM is pleased to again offer our updated Frostfell Quest Tracker. Print it out and chart up to 15 of your characters' progress! Happy Frostfell!

We've seen several players from the past poking around various forums asking how exactly they can get back into the game once it goes Free-to-Play. While many questions are addressed in SOE's official F2P FAQ, it simply doesn't help with every situation out there and sometimes the answers may not be clear.

We took the time to compile our own FAQ that we hope will help with a clearer understanding of the many concerns out there. The answers are compiled from a mix of information from SOE's F2P FAQ, developer responses on the forums and personal knowledge of how the current F2P service (EQII Extended) works.

Continue after the jump for ZAM's Returning Player Free-to-Play FAQ!

Recently I had the opportunity to test Ember Isle, well before its release. While I was playing an unfamiliar character on a new computer without my usual keybinds, we were also given incredibly powerful gear, multitudes of potions and optional GM powers. And we made use of them! Lead designer Hal Hanlin told us going in that the enemies would be tough, even for players in decent gear. So what's the first thing I did? Traveled to Ember Isle on my freshly minted level 50 of course!

December 6th, 2011 is going to be a big day for EverQuest II players. That’s the day Age of Discovery, the latest expansion for the long running MMO EverQuest II launches, along with Game Update 62, Freeport Reborn. Did we forget to mention that EQII goes Free-to-Play on that day as well? It’s a lot to take in, so ZAM Staff Writer Patrick Do went on an in-game tour in EverQuest II to see what Age of Discovery will bring.

The promised weekend bonuses have been announced!  Log in to Rift this weekend and receive: 

• 30% Experience from kills
• 30% Favor from kills
• 30% Prestige from kills
• 30% Dungeon Currency (Plaques & Marks)
• 30% Planarite

While you're in-game stop by the Fae Yule events. If you're not sure where to start check out our Fae Yule Event Guide!

The Heroes' Festival, an annual live event first introduced in 2009, will make its return on Friday, November 18th. Freeport and Qeynos will be filled with festivities to celebrate the 7th anniversary of EverQuest II.

Centered primarily in North Qeynos and West Freeport, players are able to participate in several event quests. Returning this year is the Dream Hero series as well as Gandy's mission to light the Festive Flames. Mysterious disappearing decorations threaten to put a damper on the celebration. An appearance by the Heroes' Festival band sends players off on a mission to save the day so that the show can go on.

The Heroes' Festival will run from 12:01am PST on November 18th through 11:59pm PST on November 28th. For those of you with far too many alts check out our Heroes' Festival Quest Tracker!