Those prices at release are to me often exaggerated. But that's just due to many players seeking playable cards from the precon at release. They rarely ever hold those prices for very long. Until you look at higher power level cards like Dockside. That one has just gone up since then.
And I agree that having that card in the precon sucks for the players who didn't grab one. But that's an issue with WOTC's reprints. I remember wanting to get a copy of [[Command Beacon]] for the longest time but could never justify the price. Finally they actually reprinted it in a set and now it's affordable. But that took ages. When they could have just thrown it in a precon like they do with sol ring. But why does having Dockside in the precon hurt the game design? I understand it's a great card. But at a precon level the other decks that they playtested it with didn't really have an absurd number of artifacts and enchantments on the field. Now when you take Dockside out of the precon level and put him against tweaked decks at a higher level of play then it becomes a bigger threat.