RIFT 1.8 Hotfix #8 - 8:00am PDT 5/16/12 [NA] - 1:00am GMT/2:00am BST 17/5/12 [EU]

INFERNAL DAWN
Laethys:

• Increased Laethys' Enrage timer by 1 minute.
• Increased the timer for the Laethys Achievement, 'Gold Rush', from 8 minutes to 9 minutes.
• Slightly increased the time between minion spawns in the initial phase of the encounter.
• Greed's Wrath will deal substantially less damage when it ticks just after the target has taken damage from Golden Subjugation.
• Laethys no longer gains Energy while channeling Golden Destruction.
• Gilded Shrapnel can no longer be reflected.

Maklamos the Scryer:

• Now with even more squashed bugs.

INSTANT ADVENTURE - EMBER ISLE

• Onslaughts should be more difficult now, but should also have a max number of Invasions that can spawn an attack a given location.
• Unleaded Transmutation: This adventure should no longer wrongly inform you that some crates are already filled with lead.

GENERAL

• Looking For Group: Fixed a bug where you could occasionally be given a Random Normal dungeon when you had queued for a Random Expert.
• Riftblade: Stoneshield: Fixed this so it no longer prevents certain Event and Boss mechanics it should not be able to block.
• World Event: The end date on the World Event UI now actually matches the updated event ending date!
• World Event: Rogue statues no longer appear in the middle of tents set up in Sanctum for the World Event.
• The 'Hide Other Players' Hit FX' option now actually only applies to player VFX.
• Fixed a case where attacks in duels wouldn't put characters into combat.
• EU Shards: Players who have queued quest rewards from the current World event can now claim them properly from the UI.

• Updated the landing page URLs from when you click the Support button on the patcher.

Traversing Telara is an exclusive series of articles from Trion Worlds that explores Rift's lore and gameplay mechanics through the eyes of one intrepid adventurer. It's a great read and a fantastic introduction to the world of Telara. Even if you're a veteran of Rift, you might enjoy hearing about the game from another perspective! Read on for Traversing Telara #9: Quicksilver and Meridian!

• Issue #1: Epic from the Beginning
• Issue #2: A Starting Zone Like No Other
• Issue #3: New Beginnings
• Issue #4: Regulos and Maelforge
• Issue #5: Silverwood and Kelari
• Issue #6: Life Rifts & Helping Kelari
• Issue #7: Sanctum and Eliam Fields
• Issue #8: Akylios
• Issue #9: Quicksilver and Meridian

Rift is introducing a new PvP element and needs you to test it! Called Conquest, this new feature allows you to pick a side from three different factions (yes, you can change factions!) and engage in open world, cross-shard PvP battles!

The first test of Conquest is Thursday, 5/17 @ 4:00PM PDT (11:00PM GMT) on PTS.  Be there!  Read more about Conquest on the Rift Blog.

Today's downtime converts Rift to a streaming client!  Find the patch notes below:

Traversing Telara is an exclusive series of articles from Trion Worlds that explores Rift's lore and gameplay mechanics through the eyes of one intrepid adventurer. It's a great read and a fantastic introduction to the world of Telara. Even if you're a veteran of Rift, you might enjoy hearing about the game from another perspective! Read on for Issue #8: Akylios!

• Issue #1: Epic from the Beginning
• Issue #2: A Starting Zone Like No Other
• Issue #3: New Beginnings
• Issue #4: Regulos and Maelforge
• Issue #5: Silverwood and Kelari
• Issue #6: Life Rifts & Helping Kelari
• Issue #7: Sanctum and Eliam Fields
• Issue #8: Akylios

Erick "Zann" Adams, Associate Community Manager, posted today that Trion is indeed conducting a player survey.  If you get an email from focusgroups@trionworlds.com it's legit! 

Over the next week, some of you will be receiving an email from Trion Worlds asking you to participate in a short survey that will help us get to know you better, and help us understand how we can serve you better as RIFT continues to evolve.

To ensure that we get the best sample possible, we’re going to be sending the survey to a randomly selected group of accounts, so not everyone will receive one, but we did want to give you the heads-up that we are sending out some surveys, and they are legit. The surveys will direct you to QuestionPro (www.questionpro.com) and will not be collecting any information about your account, or any information that could personally identify you. We appreciate your participation.

Be sure to be candid and help Trion make Rift even better!  As a "Thank You" for completing this survey, Trion will grant the "Surveyor" prefix for all characters on responding accounts. The title will be granted automatically before June 1st, 2012.

According to a post by Walsingham on the official forums:

The servers will be coming down temporarily for a system upgrade. This is estimated to be around noon. The upgrade is to address the current login issues that are affected some folks. The estimated downtime will be 30 minutes. Please stay tuned for updates.

Here's our handy time zone conversion tool to help you plan.