The beginning of 2011 certainly seems to be an exciting time for Rift fans. The third closed beta event ended on New Year's Eve following a four-hour extension, and the fourth event is already scheduled to begin on Friday, Jan. 7 and will include PvP Warfronts.

To tie everything together, Trion Worlds CCO and Rift Executive Producer Scott Hartsman published a brief forum post today looking back at the previous beta tests and ahead toward the immediate future, and one part in particular stands out:

"You’ve no doubt seen the increase in coverage of the game lately, and the beginnings of ads on the web over the past couple months. This week, it’s about to get even bigger. If you’re reading this, we thank you for being right here with us when it all started, and we hope you get a kick out of what you see next."

In addition, the Rift Podcast team has kicked off the new year with a roundtable discussion about the state of the Rift beta events so far. Listen to episode 25 to hear their overall impressions of the game and more.