NCSOFT announces the first closed beta weekend for Blade & Soul gets underway tomorrow for purchasers of Founder's Packs for the game. They promise a total of 21 days of testing with four additional such weekends planned between now and the game's 2016 launch. This post has more details, and a new "When Heroes Rise" trailer offers a look at the game, and here's more on testing plans:

NCSOFT announced today that the first closed beta weekend for Blade & Soul begins tomorrow, 29th October at 18:00 CET / 17:00 UTC. All players who have purchased a Founder’s Pack of any tier will have access this weekend, as well as a random assortment of players who signed up on the Blade & Soul website. Slated for a free-to-play launch in the first quarter of 2016, Blade & Soul seamlessly melds martial arts and mythology as players seek vengeance against evil forces bent on destroying their world

“Closed beta is a very exciting time for Blade & Soul, as this is the first time that a lot of the community will have hands-on time with the game”, said Nicolas Coutant, producer at NCSOFT West. “We’ve been hard at work developing a unique MMO experience that players will enjoy, and we can’t wait to see more players breathe life into the martial arts world of Blade & Soul”.