I'm really excited as well, but man... Don't think I've preordered anything in... Like ten years?

On reddit, there was a sub I sometimes frequented called /r/patientgamers. Was good to have some compatriots in either waiting for sales or just enjoying old games because they're still fun.

Only two times did I relent and buy games at full price over the last few years. BOTW and Spider-Man PS4 (which I actually just got bundled with my late entry into owning a PS4).

Considering this is Bethesda, as much as I like them, I might just renew my Game Pass subscription for this, rather than pay full price. (Side note: I'm 100% expecting the Game Pass price to jump just before Starfield is released.)

Once it's on sale, I'll get it on Steam because I can guarantee the modding scene is going to have way more freedom there than they'll have with the Windows Store version.

So maybe play it near release on GP, buy it a few months later on Steam.

It'll take a few months for major mods to start hitting the scene anyway because they won't release the Creation Kit immediately. Of course, a lot of mods will be out there within a few days, but I'm expecting it to be mostly unofficial patches (thank fuck the community has agreed on ignoring Arthmoor and doing it with open permissions this time) and silly nonsense like replacing models or whatever, plus a few cheaty things here and there.