Hellgate: London's US beta is coming to a close on Friday at 10:00AM PST. Fret not,though - the servers will be opening again just before launch, so that those folks who haven't gotten their copy of the game yet can continue playing.
Good news on that front as well: characters from this "pre-launch" phase will carry over to your retail account, meaning any levels and items obtained will be there once you've received your retail version of Hellgate: London.
This is from the Big Beta News article on the Hellgate Underground official news section. There's also an Achievements Update.
The Achievements blurb from the Patch 0 and Subscriber Details article is no longer entirely accurate. Achievements will be available for all accounts now, not just subscribers, meaning everyone has the opportunity of focusing on certain goals in the game outside of leveling. Check out the information on Achievements below.
These are long-term goals for players. The player starts with a few new goals in an Achievement Log. These can be as simple as slaying a certain amount of specific demons to something as difficult as completing quests without the benefit of armor! Players uncover new goals as they start to meet the requirements of that achievement. For example, after 50 zombies have been slain, an “Achievement Unlocked” message displays on the screen. Checking the Achievement Log shows how many zombies must be eradicated to complete the achievement. Rewards for completing achievements can be anything from reputation to tags on the player to special particle effects to items to special skills to – well, anything is possible!
