The devs have, I believe, confirmed that you will be able to reserve a username prior to the release of the game. As many have pointed out this idea doesn't make a whole lot of sense but I've decided I'll go for it especially now that I have Polaris (which I came up with on the spot cause I was not expecting it to have me come up with a name). But back to the question: how soon should we expect to be able to make the reservation?