Breakfast Topic: Do you usually preorder?

It occurred to me the other day that I hadn’t actually gotten around to preordering Overwatch — I wasn’t initially sure whether or not I was going to do so, because I wasn’t sure whether or not I’d really like the game enough to justify the purchase. After spending some time in the beta with Matticus and Mitch, I quickly fell in love with the title. Needless to say, I fixed this situation because hey, I’m going to like the game (and I already do!), and also because I wanted that cool Widowmaker skin. Bonuses are always pretty fun, right? But as I was thinking about it, I realized I haven’t actually preordered Legion yet, either.

That also seemed like an oversight on my part, but I wondered how much of it was simply forgetting to do it, and how much was just being cautious? I preordered Warlords immediately after the option was available — the announcement trailer at BlizzCon was more than enough to convince me. But when I look at Warlords as a whole, I think — while I’m not necessarily regretting my purchase — I’m a little disappointed with what I actually got out of this expansion. Part of that is my fault, because I decided this was going to be the expansion I took a break from full-time raiding. Part of it was that with that lack of raiding, there was simply very little to do — a problem I definitely wouldn’t have encountered had I chosen to take the break during Mists instead.

And now I’m looking at Legion and wondering what that is going to look like.

Don’t get me wrong — I’m not dissing the game here. I’m going to get it regardless, because hey, I love Warcraft. I’ve always loved it. And I can’t exactly effectively write about a game I’m not actively playing. But I’m a little less trigger happy on the preorder button here, just because I’m still deliberating whether or not all the pre-purchase perks are worth it. Am I going to play a Demon Hunter to the point where having advanced access would be a good idea? Will I ever really use that level 100 boost? Do I want the digital deluxe edition, or do I want to shell out for the full physical collector’s edition? I still haven’t made up my mind yet, and that seems to be stalling me out.

But while I’m having this conversation with myself and deliberating over the options available, I figured I’d turn the question to you guys. What makes you want to preorder a game? Do you wait until the last minute to preorder? Do you just wait until release to pick up a copy? When you preorder, is it so that you can have the game the second it’s available, because you like the bonuses, or some other reason? Are there particular titles and franchises you immediately preorder no matter what, or does it vary from game to game? How do you feel about preorders in general?