Is it true beta only lasts a few hours?

[Zumi]

The beta is not a game demo. The point is to help the dev team find problems so that the launch goes more smoothly.

However the later phases and the open beta are like a demo to promote the game. I am sure they will have promotions on game related sites to give out keys because they want people to try the game.

[Alhanelem]

However the later phases and the open beta are like a demo to promote the game. I am sure they will have promotions on game related sites to give out keys because they want people to try the game.

The final phase is pretty much a publicity/hype thing. However the first phases are more genuinely about smoothing out the rough edges and helping the devs gather data that is difficult to gather with just a squad of in-house testers.