UPDATE: We burned through 5,000 Rift VIP beta keys in four hours! Trion Worlds has given us thousands more, so head over to the giveaway page and grab yours before they're gone!

Are you still itching to try out Rift before the game launches on March 1? Then you're in luck, because Trion Worlds has given us VIP beta keys to give out to our readers on a first-come, first-served basis! These keys will give you access to all remaining Rift beta events, so head over to our giveaway page and grab yours before they're gone!

We repeat: Click here to get your VIP beta key!

Your VIP key will give you entry into the next Rift closed beta event, which kicks off Tuesday, Jan. 25 at 10 a.m. PST and runs through Friday, Jan. 28 at 10 a.m. You'll get the chance to level your character to 30 and try out the newly opened Scarlet Gorge zone and the Foul Cascade dungeon.

We are pleased to announce that our Rift wiki has surpassed 1,000 articles! With the combined effort of our wiki team and volunteers, our wiki will continue to grow and provide our readers with up-to-date Rift information. This is only the first of many milestones we expect to reach as we gear up for the game's launch and beyond.

Our 1,000th Rift wiki article was actually created by blueplain, one of our volunteers. We welcome all interested users to contribute to our wiki. If you need help getting started, contact a member of our Rift wiki team:

• Senior Content Manager Kaasha
• Rift Wikibase Administrator Bohtauri
• Senior Wikibase Administrator Bludwyng

And while you're at it, we invite you to browse through our entire ZAM Wikibase for information on numerous games. Feel free to contribute your MMO knowledge!

SOE has released screenshots and an all-new Destiny of Velious video!  The highly anticipated seventh EverQuest II expansion became available for pre-order this week.  Players can choose from a boxed retail edition or a digital download in either a standard or collector's edition.

Click the thumbnail at right to see all our Destiny of Velious screenshots, and see the new video after the jump!

Earlier this week, we gave you an exclusive in-depth look at TERA's archer class. Miric, the TERA content manager here at ZAM, wanted to get even more information on this damage-dealing master of tactics, so he went straight to Associate Producer Stefan Ramirez to find out what being an archer in TERA is all about.

Check out our exclusive interview with Ramirez after the jump for more details on the class. And in case you missed them, take a look at our archer screenshots and video to see the class in action!

One of the most requested features from our users here at ZAM Rift was for a Rift-based "soul builder," and we’re ecstatic to announce that we now have a beta version of our very own Soul Tree Calculator ready for you to use!

As you’ll probably notice, we’re allowing users to make builds all the way up to the level cap, which you aren’t able to do in the beta. Additionally, we have several other enhancements that take us above and beyond the basic soul builder, including a list of abilities that are unlocked as you progress through your soul trees.

-Exploring Eorzea is a periodic feature taking a closer look at the people, places and lore of Final Fantasy XIV.

Life goes on in the tiny coastal hamlet of Aleport, a small but resilient town surrounded by towering cliffs on the southern shore of Western La Noscea.

Once one of many coastal communities, a band of pirates known as the Serpent Reavers burned those towns to the ground -- all except for Aleport. Perhaps hardened by their rough lives on shipping vessels, the residents of Aleport stood their ground against the Reavers, turning them away and saving their hamlet. No doubt the citizens of Aleport were aided by the town’s natural defenses; a ship could hardly sail through the town’s impenetrable cliffs without being an easy target for weaponry on the shore.

Discuss this in the ZAM forums!

It's a brand new year, and you all know what that means: a brand new TERA class reveal, courtesy of ZAM and our friends at En Masse Entertainment! Last time we checked out the sorcerer, a class that excels in the application of brute force and fire to reach her goals. It seemed fitting that this time we would be highlighting the archer, a class that some players might assume to be the physical damage-dealing version of the sorcerer but, upon closer inspection, is actually quite different.

Check out our in-depth details about the archer after the jump, as well as 10 gameplay tactics straight from En Masse Entertainment and a video showcasing the archer at work. And if that's not enough archer action for you, then head over to our TERA image gallery and look through our exclusive archer screenshots.

Despite the recent annoucement that Destiny of Velious pre-orders would begin Tuesday, the game is already available on Amazon.com and GameStop.com.  The EverQuest II expansion costs $39.99, and includes a Standard of the Dain Cloak and four different Velious Portal Paintings with teleportation powers.  The latest list of features reads:

Eric Flannum brings us a new ArenaNet blog posting, this time exploring the lore behind the Kodan.

The kodan are intelligent, ten-foot tall, bipedal, polar bear-like beings from the distant north. Culturally, they have a strong belief in the importance of being in balance with the world around them, but this does not mean they are pacifists. Taking a cue from the natural world, they see hunting and killing as a normal part of life. What is most important is that an individual’s actions are in balance with nature. Originally from beyond the northern Shiverpeaks, the kodan tribes inhabit floating iceberg fortresses called Sanctuaries; one per tribe, they live and travel upon these mighty ice peaks, building entire cities within their shelter.

Find out more about the Kodan, the lost tribes, sanctuaries, society and hierarchy, the claw, the voice and more here: The Wisdom and Power of the Kodan.

The time has come for Mike B. aka Fony to dive into Rift, Trion Worlds' upcoming fantasy MMO that's scheduled to launch on March 1. His latest BFF Report focuses on the basics: character creation, game mechanics, rifts, invasions, you name it. Part 2 will follow Fony as he tries out PvP Warfronts, dungeons and the overall leveling experience.

So what are you waiting for? Check out BFF Report episode 52 after the jump to find out what Rift is all about. If you like what you see, the fifth closed beta event will be held from Jan. 25-28.