We've read the logs of the server and it seems that when people are granted access, they immediately install the game, try to get into a game, can't do it in a few minutes and then leave.
So we've decided that we should advertise more before another try at the playtest and wait for a larger number of sign ups, pehaps 10 -20 times more and we could have somewhat reasonable queue times.
Anyone who got access doesn't need to apply for access again, when the playtest becomes available again, they'll just have access.
In the meantime, we'll use the time in-between to strengthen the server and introduce more error handling and error logging so awkward situations where the server freezes won't be as likely.