The closed BETA started on the 27 July 2011, however the high number users attempting to access the game caused long load times, and as a result many users were unable to take part in the closed BETA until the 28th of July 2011. Perfect World Entertainment announced at the launch that all Beta accounts would have their data erased prior to the release of the full game. Phase 1 of the closed Beta ended on 17 August 2011 so that a large number of in-game changes could be implemented. Character Data was not erased in the transfer to the second closed Beta test, which began on 24 August 2011. Players who joined within the first 12 hours of the launch were given a special costume item for one character as part of the progression to open Beta. There were initially three characters in the game (Frantz Kruger, Angela Strraugend and Tude MacLoud). These characters participate in the game's storyline. Natasha Borzenkova was added after the game was released from beta. Both Leila and Edgar were later made free and can be created via the character selection screen when the Rusty Hearts Reborn expansion pack was released. There are characters which are free-to-play and some which are pay-to-create. For instance, unlike the first three premium characters, Leila Vergerius is initially free-to-play, but to obtain her, the player's account must be connected to Facebook. After the update patch on 31 January 2013, Meilin Chen, Roselle Vergerius, Edgar Grosvenor and Leila Vergerius are now free on the North American server. On 29 July 2014, Perfect World Entertainment announced the sunsetting of Rusty Hearts. The servers have been shut down since 15 September 2014. References External links Official site of Rusty Hearts North America Massively multiplayer online role-playing games 2011 video games Free-to-play video games Role-playing video games Video games developed in South Korea Video games with cel-shaded animation Windows games Windows-only games Inactive massively multiplayer online games Products and services discontinued in 2014