The only thing I do pre-shave IF I'm patient enough is let the soap that I face lathered sit for a few minutes. I find this the best you can do, soak your whiskers and let the soap / cream sit for a while.

Aside form that I never shower, nor use any pre-shave anything.
Just lather up and shave.

The soap does a good job of softening the whiskers if you let it sit for a while.

The rest are just fancy unnecessary things, but if one likes it and it helps, why not?
You may pamper yourself, it's quite metro !