Pre-Purchasing Guarantees Access To Guild Wars 2 Beta

Like everyone else, I'm eager to set foot into Guild Wars 2 as early as possible. I wastched from the outside as people enjoyed the first closed beta weekend and I'm determined to not be left out again. Now I can't tell if this is manipulative or extremely nice, but ArenaNet have announced that those who pre-order the game from April 10th will be given access to the game's weekend beta events, as well as a three-day head start when the game eventually launches. That exact date is still under wraps. What's not still a secret is what you get when you pre-purchase, and now I have an expensive decision to make.

EDIT: there's a difference between pre-purchasing and pre-ordering. Pre-orders, ie: putting money down, will only get you one-day headstart. To get the three days and beta access you need to buy it outright.

All pre-purchasers revive access to all Guild Wars 2 Beta weekenders, three day headstart, and the Hero's Band (+2 on loads of stats). Beyond that there are three delicious flavours to imbibe. The vanilla in the trio is just the game for... £50! Wow, that's a steep initial outlay, but I guess for a content rich subscription-free MMO it's reasonable. I can't remember the last time I forked out so much for a game that wasn't a special edition, and even then I felt taken for a ride. GW2 has one of those as well, but before that on the sundae is the strawberry Digital Deluxe version, at £64.99. I've never spent that much on game outright. I'm starting to feel dizzy thinking about it. At least is comes with some in-game effects and items: a one time guild boost, PvP rewards, a personal Golem to tote stuff (but only for a week), a temporary MistFire Wolf that'll join you in combat, and a miniature pet version of Rytlock Brimstone. But those additions are all digital, anyway. Hmmph!

The chocolate in this tortured metaphorical dessert is the physical CE: for £129 there's all that's come before ans well as a hand-painted 25 centimetre statue of the Rytlock Brimstone a custom frame with five Guild Wars 2 art prints, a 112-page Making of Guild Wars 2 book, and Soundtrack CD. Which looks like.

I'd never dream of buying that. It's hugely expensive, and all the game-specific changes come with the Digital Deluxe edition anyway. My choice is vanilla or strawberry.
Are the extras with the DD worth the additional cost of £15? I'm a bit perturbed, because I've yet to play it so I'm unsure of how wide ranging those additions are. Only two have any degree of permanence, the summonable battle wolf and the pet, with the other boosts being one-time only. I'm slowly edging towards the bland edition: at this time it has what I want, and as I don't know the sort of character I'm choosing, or how I'll play, those other additions are sort of superfluous. The only thing that's nudging me towards it is an innate envy of those that would have them, which is tediously pathetic of me.