The trend in MMOs, of late, is to offer various exclusives with pre-orders of the game, sometimes even varying from store to store. We’ve all seen it happening.
I have no doubt that Bioware, which already has a handle on downloadable content (DLC), and other ways to make additional content that people will pay extra money for, or pre-order for, will have some ideas in this area for when TOR launches. As such, I offer the following:
PLEASE, for the love of Star Wars, make the exclusives useful.
So many times these pre-order exclusives are weapons, or vehicles, or similar, that are good for a certain level range. I remember in Star Trek Online, I had what was supposed to be some kind of kick-arse rifle as one of my freebies, yet I looted something much better not too far into the game.
So when I say, “make the exclusives useful”, I mean, make them something that a player could use from level one to the level cap. That could be anything from a unique hairstyle to a unique title and so on. That is real value; being able to use and appreciate the freebie at all levels. There is little to no value in exclusive items that get superseded within a few levels of gameplay.
Let any exclusives mean something across the entire game.