Please stop pre-ordering games, help out the industry and take a stand.
"You just can't be sure that you're going to like a game - or that that game is even going to fucking work - until that game has actually come out. I mean, be honest with yourself, in the last two years look at the major games that have dropped and ask yourself if they've lived up to the hype?
In my humble opinion, at this point, it is much more likely that we are let down by a game that we pre-order."
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"-Don't pre-order, because your pre-order earns you no advantage over those who don't pre-order, and on top of that, it's a risk; there's the risk that you pre-order Halo 5 and it doesn't work at launch just like [Master Chief Collection]. And I actually think this is very likely: 343 studies was split building Halo 5 and Halo MCC simultaneously - I can't help but think this failed launch is the result of a team spread way too thin.
Whats to say the exact same thing doesn't happen again, with the exact same development team, due to the exact same problem that happened to a game they were working on, at the exact same time!? And if they struggled with MCC - when so much of that base work was already done for them - how are they going to fair with Halo 5 when they have to build that entire game from scratch."
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In my opinion BDobbinsFTW gets a little preachy at the end, but not pre-ordering is a thing that has been long discussed, and people keep on doing it. At the end of the day, it's your money so I'm not really going to go as hardcore as BDobbins, but it is becoming more and more of a problem, and I myself am pretty much done pre-ordering games.
I'm still going to buy Halo 5, and mind you this is not trying to explain why you shouldn't buy Halo 5, but it's probably going to be the first Halo game I don't pre-order, and even just typing that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth because I looooove Halo. It's probably one of the only universes where someone can ask me a question about the story or lore, and within two seconds I'll be able to answer it for them.
These are 60 dollar products and I am no longer comfortable in paying that much when now a days games being broken upon release is just about considered the norm. I understand that as games get more and more high tech it's going to become rarer and rarer to see a smooth launch with minimal patches, but there is a level of severity - be it lag, crashes, online play, lost of data, etc. - that is unacceptable, especially with how expensive games are (And that's not even mentioning paying for an online service if you game on a console).
There is a difference between tolerating a few bumps in the road and waiting in a sinking ship as promises are made that the holes are going to be plugged up ASAP. It might very well be completely fixed soon, but if I had known that, I would of waited to buy my cruse tickets at a later date.
Just my two cents.
- Jash.