The sixth Rift beta event kicks off today and runs through Feb. 7, and we've been busy updating all of the tools on our Rift site to help you make the most of your weekend in Telara! Here's a taste of what we've been up to behind the scenes:

• Our Soul Tree Calculator has been updated with all of the changes that Trion Worlds has implemented in Beta 6.
• On a similar note, our Abilities Database has also been updated with the latest Beta 6 information.
• While it won't happen immediately, we plan to include localized information in our database for players who speak French and German. This feature will be added soon.

We hope you find our up-to-date database and Soul Tree Calculator helpful during Beta 6 and beyond! If you don't have a beta key yet, we still have plenty. Click this link to grab your key and dive into Rift this weekend!

The Far Seas Caravan toted their goods across the lush lands of Greater Faydark, setting up their tents on the Green Knoll for the Kelethin City Festival. One new specialty item, an Engraved Kelethin Door, is available and can be purchased from Chris Weathers. The city festival will run until 11:59pm PST on February 7th.

Spreading the word of love is what the Sisterhood of Erollisi, along with the Swornlove siblings, has dedicated their lives to. Players can help out the followers of the Goddess of Love during the annual holiday, Erollisi Day. While the specific details of what's new in this year's event have yet to be revealed, we have been informed that the event is expected to run from 12:01am PST on February 9th through 11:59pm PST on February 20th. Any servers affected by a merger during the event will have it extended one day, to conclude at 11:59pm PST on February 21st.

The phases of the moon will reveal the mysterious grottos again later in the month and their denizens will gladly offer you some tasks to perform. Moonlight Enchantments will run from 12:01am PST on February 20th until 11:59pm PST on February 21st.

EverQuest II's long-awaited seventh expansion, Destiny of Velious, will be released on February 22nd. The prelude quests will come to a conclusion before the server downtime for the expansion. Speak to the Duality in the City of Paineel to learn the lore behind the events that transpire between Sentinel's Fate and Destiny of Velious, as well as earning some rewards along the way.

How many people here are fans of the Rocky movies?

I'm a big-time fan of "Rocky," my favorite movie. And I bring this up because, right now, Final Fantasy XIV reminds me a bit of the Italian Stallion. Remember that scene when Sylvester Stallone stumbles out of bed at 4 a.m., chugs a glass of raw eggs and then starts jogging his way into shape? In my imaginative mind, that's Yoshi-P, taking a game that the gaming world had left for dead and whipping it into a winner -- or going down trying.

Yoshi-P has put on his gloves and climbed into the ring. His daunting opponent – a merciless Apollo Creed embodying all the bad reviews, Internet flaming and player mistrust surrounding FFXIV – stands before him.

Will Final Fantasy XIV go the distance?

Discuss this in the ZAM forums.

In the latest edition of En Masse Entertainment's Race and Class Series, the team briefly touched on what it means to Westernize TERA for a North American and European audience. Basically, the short paragraph explained that En Masse wants their players to feel like TERA was made for them.

We wanted to know more about the Westernization process, so we decided to go straight to Senior Producer Brian Knox to discuss the similarities and differences between the Korean and NA/EU versions of the game. Miric, our TERA content manager, talked with Knox about all sorts of topics, ranging from the storyline to gameplay. Find out what Knox had to say after the jump!

A couple weeks ago, Mike B. aka Fony spent an entire episode of the BFF Report talking about the basics of Rift: character creation, game mechanics, gameplay, you name it. In his latest episode, Fony ventures back into Rift and focuses exclusively on PvP.

Fony discusses Favor and Prestige (which is basically currency and experience), PvP souls and a couple Warfront maps. He even gives some tips on how to wreck your opponents in the Black Garden and the Codex!

Check out BFF Report episode 54 after the jump to see Rift PvP in action.

As we've found with previous profession reveals, it's easy to become overwhelmed by the vast number of articles, interviews and media appearing in their wake. In this post we'll be maintaining a list of all major coverage so you can stay up to date and informed!

Hit the link below to see the full list, and keep checking back as we add stories throughout the day.

It seems like the curtain around Guild Wars 2 is finally slipping, once more. After months of near silence from the offices of ArenaNet the excitement around this unveiling is palpable.

The unveiling in question is the long awaited 5th profession, the 'guardian'. Eurogamer got the scoop early, putting up an interview earlier today and the anticipated skill video.

All in all, it seems like the guadian is the most support oriented of the classes so far. Guild Wars 2 lead designer Eric Flannum even suggests it was created with those who enjoy playing more traditional healing classes in mind. That said, the guardian is definitely a front line class and appears to pack a hell of a punch, sending enemies flying across the battlefield. 

Here at ZAM, we hope everyone is enjoying (or has already enjoyed) the first few hours of Beta 5! We couldn't believe how many people we saw in the newbie areas that we visited around Telara. Pretty impressive, Riftlings, and we hope that we can see you all in game shortly. It's been a crazy couple days, but we just wanted to let you know that we've made several major updates to our soul builder and we've launched our databases for Rift's achievements and abilities! Links below:

ZAM Ability Database

ZAM Achievement Database

ZAM Soul Calculator

Feel free to read the the descriptions of our new databases and the updates to the ZAM Soul Calculator after the jump!

While we wait for the fifth Rift closed beta event to kick off in a few hours, check out our latest exclusive Rift dev blog entry! Senior Systems Lead Cameron McNeil gives us an in-depth look at how Trion Worlds created Rift's unique class system. He explains how the team responded to feedback to give players the flexibility to choose how they want to play. You can read the entire entry after the jump.

If you'd like to try out Rift this week, we're still giving away VIP beta keys! Grab yours now to participate in the fifth closed beta event, as well as every other beta event until the game's launch on March 1. Also, play around with our new Soul Tree Calculator to see the character flexibility that McNeil talks about in his blog entry.

Josh Augustine from PC Gamer is the one to tell us the news!  ArenaNet's next big profession reveal will happen next Thursday, January 27th, complete with videos and screenshots. Logan Thackeray is the iconic character chosen to represent the Guardian class for Guild Wars 2.