2023. Current. This release calendar is loosely adjusted to western time zones, as usually the game updates happen at 9:00 PST/PDT (16:00 UTC during winter/17:00 UTC during summer) for ArenaNet, located in Washington, USA. The following events are shown in the release calendar: Game updates, using UTC, multiple game updates on the same day are

Grâce aux puissants propulseurs à saut qui peuvent leur faire franchir la Mer de Jade et à leurs grands canons de siège, capables de pulvériser leurs ennemis, les tortues de siège constituent la fusion des anciennes traditions à l'avenir technologique de Cantha. Les tortues de siège sont munies de deux sièges.
I think it's a permanent change, it just happened to launch with the beta. I like it. For now it means I can see all my characters on screen at once, but that may not last long because I think the betas have given me ideas for permanent versions of 2 temporary characters, so I'll be going up to 13 permanent and I'll still want at least 2 spare slots for temporary characters.

You are absolutely correct. Pre-ordering will not give you access to the beta, only pre-purchasing will. Players who have pre-purchased the expansion will see a new button appear on the character creation screen that allows them to create and play a fully geared, level-80 beta character of any race for the duration of the weekend. Source

Soooo the bug is caused by enabling DX11 BETA. You can fix the problem by putting the Startup Argument -dx9 until you disable the BETA. And that should fix things.
The developer also announced that players will get a chance to try the Virtuoso Mesmer in an upcoming Guild Wars 2 Elite Specialization beta event. The beta event will take place from August 17 to X7N8hdO.
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    • guild wars 2 beta characters