Straight from James Jones (Scan) himself:

"The current plan is internal alpha only, then an internal only beta. Then selected tester beta, this will be based on personal relationships with die hard gamers we know that are known for finding exploits and hacks, technical level and experience of the person. Initial public beta based on a questionaire highest 1,000 scores or so will get in. Then open beta we plan on having a complete open beta that will last 2 - 3 months depending on the state of the game. We have not capped the open beta but we anticipate between 25,000 to 50,000 players."

(Note: Please don't e-mail Artifact Entertainment asking to get into beta, they're busy working on the game so there will -be- a beta!)