Yeah, I think SE made a pretty bad decision with the pre-order items. I was going to get the collectors edition (mostly because of the leather-bound concept art book, also because it's only $10 more considering the 30 days of free play), but then I saw that the standard edition came with EXPERIENCE BOOSTING GOGGLES. Umm, so even if the collector's edition gets to play 8 days ahead of time, that can be easily made up with those goggles. Not sure how much they boost XP, but in an MMO where you'll be devoting a lot of time, it's a clear decision.
The only difference between dreams and reality... is action.