A number of RIFT players are reporting that a Message of the Day is broadcasted on specific RIFT shards to notify players that their shard is being closed or turned into a Trial Shard by January 18. Players on these shards were then offered the opportunity to transfer to any other shard of their choosing, or they could go with the server-wide suggested transfer shard.

While we have received no official response as of yet from Trion Worlds, players have already taken to the forums to discuss the transfers, noting which shards have been designated for transfer. Remember, those suggestions are merely suggestions, so if you have a specific shard in mind and you've received this message after logging into RIFT, now is your chance!

Love PvP? Come to the player-organized* weekly tournament on the Test server!  The second weekly tournament is this coming Monday. 

• When: Monday January 16th, 9PM Eastern Time.  Here's our handy Time Zone Conversion Tool!
• Where: South of Ember Watch on Alpha PTS
• Events:  Planned are a class ladder tournament, as well as 2v2 and up, based on call outs.
• Rules: Consumables off.
• Conduct: Gentleman rules apply.

For more information or to sign up, see this thread in the PvP & Warfronts section of the official forums! 

*ZAM is not affiliated with this tournament. Please contact the organizers on the official forums with your feedback.

The NA region shards will be coming down for a brief update at 8:00am PST, 1/6/12. The estimated downtime is  30 minutes.  Here's the patch notes:

GENERAL

• Now that the Fae Yule event has officially ended, Fae Yule goods can be found on the World Event Merchants in Sanctum and Meridian!
• Any lingering Fae Yule quests should be removed from your quest journal.
• Players can now re-spec their Planar Attunements! Visit your calling trainer in Sanctum or Meridian to initiate a re-spec. The first one is free, but you'll have to pay 100 Platinum for additional later re-specs.
• Champion: Destroyer's Bearing, Slayer's Bearing, and Soldier's Bearing are no longer purgeable.
• City drink merchants now sell Isle Embrosia.
• Moonshade Highlands: The Key to it All: A portal out is now available after killing Ursa.
• Sanctum: Hanging out in Thedeor's Circle now gives you the Rested buff.
• Added some missing areas to the Shimmersand achievement, Desert Nomad.

Love PvP? Come to the player-organized* weekly tournament on the Test server!  The first of what should be many weekly tournaments is this Sunday. 

• When: Sunday January 8th. 8PM Eastern Time. Here's our handy Time Zone Conversion Tool!
• Where: South of Ember Watch on Alpha PTS
• Events:  Planned are a best in class ladder tournament, as well as 2v2 and up, based on call outs.
• Rules: The first event will be anything goes. Limitations will be set by the community after a review of how the first event goes.
• Conduct: Gentleman rules apply.

For more information or to sign up, see this thread in the PvP & Warfronts section of the official forums! 

*ZAM is not affiliated with this tournament. Please contact the organizers on the official forums with your feedback.

Amanda "Amary" Fry posted today reminding players that Fae Yule is about to end:

We just wanted to remind everyone that tonight is your last chance to go gather snowflakes for the Fae Yule event items, including your reveler costume gear and RUDY THE (awesome) FAE YULE CORGI. [I got mine last night, aww yeah!]

The Fae Yule event and the associated Unique Snowflakes will be turning off tomorrow [1/4/12 in both NA and EU regions], so if you play during evening hours, tonight, Jan. 3rd, will be your final guaranteed evening to finish gathering the currency. As with previous events, the items will become available for purchase with any leftover Snowflakes on the World Event Merchants in Meridian and Sanctum a couple of days after the event is finished - they won't show up right away tomorrow but WILL be coming.

I'm sure some of you have picked up more than enough snowflakes to get what you wanted for Fae Yule, and are ready for them to be turned off. So for you guys and gals - the end is near.

Last call to get your snowflakes!

Trion quietly released a Rift application for iOS devices on December 29.  Designed for both the iPhone and iPad, the application allows you to keep in touch with your guild and play mini games for in-game rewards.  Scott Hartsman, in a post on the official forums, said an Android app is coming soon and to watch for more news "after the holiday."

See the list of features after the jump.

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.

The North American shards will come down for 1.6.1 Hotfix #5 tomorrow, Wednesday December 28, at 8:00am PST. The estimated downtime is 30 minutes.  EU shards are scheduled for the same hotfix at 2:00am GMT 28/12/11.

See the patch notes after the jump.

Trion released a statement today informing their customers that there has been unauthorized access to a Trion Worlds account database. They offer reassurances that customer credit card information has not been compromised.  Players will be required to reset their passwords and security questions the next time they log in, and Authenticator users will have to reconnect their Authenticator.  See the entire notification below the jump.

Hey MMORPGers! Anyone want to hop into RIFT for the Holidays? Well, ZAM wants to help you out by giving away 5 Collector's Edition RIFT Game Codes along with 30-day RIFT Game Time Codes! Unfortunately, we're firm believers in making people earn their swag (how else will you cherish it!?), so if you want to win a free Collector's Edition code of RIFT and 30 days of game time, well, you're going to have to don your creative hats!

All you need to do to enter ZAM's "RIFT for the Holidays" contest is follow @ZAMOfficial on Twitter and then fire us your best Fae Yule themed... Haiku! Be sure to also include the hashtag #ZAMRiftHolidays so that we can see your wonderful poetic creation. You can separate your line breaks with forward slashes or the | key. Here's an example to get you going!

A Festive Haiku
For the Fae Yule Holidays
Yule Vaiyuus scare me.

Remember, Haikus are poems with five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and five syllables in the last line. Usually poets can experiment with this form, but for the sake of competition, keep 'em right at 5-7-5! The contest ends at 11:59pm PST Friday, December 24th, so get them in before Christmas Eve!