The last game I pre-ordered was STALKER 2, mostly because I was crazy excited to play it, and wanted to take that money out of my budget before I could spend it on any other game that might come along and tempt me in the meantime.
Money does not come easy for me these days, so when I have enough available to me to buy something that I've really been looking forward to, and a pre-order becomes possible, I will do it. But not very often at all, unless there is some kind of discount or bonus for doing the pre-order.
But even then, in 99% of cases, I will wait for actual release, because that makes the most sense to me as a consumer. I like to read a few reviews from people I trust before I make any large game purchase. Especially for the high-cost games.
I know I will probably buy The Sinking City 2 here when it comes out, but times are difficult at the moment, so I may end up waiting for a sale. Ultimately it will depend on my will power!