http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en/news/post/2014/01/31/ask-us-anything-variety-pack-12

Do people who order the Imperial Edition gain a big gameplay advantage over those who don’t? – Sven Denteu

No. With the Imperial Edition you get the opportunity to play as a rogue Imperial who has broken from their Daedra worshipping ways, and you get a unique racial skill line of equal gameplay impact to other races’ unique racial skill lines. As an Imperial you also get a mount and the automatic ability to craft items into the Imperial style. All non-Imperial races can also learn this ability after locating the corresponding racial motif. Imperials do not begin the game in a unique starting location or via a separate quest, but they can start in any alliance as befits their status as un-aligned outcasts of their own Province. Being an Imperial includes a racial skill line that offers unique gameplay opportunities, but there is not an overall gameplay advantage. It is an opportunity to set yourself visually apart in the lands of Tamriel.

Gameplay benefits within this edition have been designed to avoid bestowing unfair advantages over players who do not purchase this special edition. This is cool content designed for some of our biggest fans who wish to have something different from other collector’s editions in the market. The only other alternative would have been to offer a collector’s edition that offers no in-game items whatsoever. That simply didn’t seem fair to fans who are excited about the game and want some special digital items.

I am not happy with that first answer... not one bit

Thanks for link Sparhawk, nice to see some clarification on this, the mount is not faster than other mounts.

Fancy elaborating just a tad?

"The face is an important tool to identify and separate yourself from other players. In a lot of your videos, characters weren't wearing helmets. Is it possible to hide your helmet, or do you have to take it off and lose its stats and protection? - Ulrich Kaupe

You can hide your helmet and show your face to friends and foes without losing its protection."

This will be interesting. All the work we put into facial customization won't just be covered immediately with the level 1 helm we equip!

The first answer just leads it more to looking like Imperials are indeed behind a pay wall. It does go against them not wanting pay walls in the game, and it will just make the **** storm we've seen since the preorders began just get worse.

But...we already knew this. Support site clearly says you can upgrade after launch. How is that new info from this article? All it says is "calm down guys, there's no gameplay advantage here".

every single mmo games needs the hide helm option in my mind and i fully expected them to have it

How can you possibly say this....

They just said the Imperials offer no advantages which should have been obvious already. What they are is an extra item for people who really really like the game. There's nothing wrong with them asking for extra items for extra money. Its not a paywall because they aren't blocking off content. Now if they were to say "spend and extra $9.99 to access your 50+ zone" then I would understand.

No one ever thought Imperials would be in the game. They added them as something for people who buy the collectors addition. Because some people, like me, don't care about statues and maps. If I spend extra money, I want items I can actually use in the game.

Saw my question answered least I can use other options given rather than intimidate and persuasion, not that I would suggest using those other option(s) heh.

Really?

Every SINGLE racial skill line we've seen offers an advantage to a certain game play style so far so obviously Imperial will be better suited for SOME BUILDS. Thereby it is an ADVANTAGE.

And they honestly had no other option? They couldn't include a title, mount, and pet? Instead of a [censored] race? Really, was adding a race the only way to make the CE feel cool?

That answer was just dripping with BS.

We haven't seen any official skill lines, period.

From the unofficial skill lines people are speculating about after getting info from unscrupulous testers, racial abilities do not make one race more suited to one particular class/weapon/role. Period. Every race appears to have abilities that would allow them to be effective in a wide range of roles.

Funny to see they evaded the questions about the rediculous explorer pack being the way they implement the ability to choose any alliance with any race.

I feel like they may have not bothered to post questions containing the word "ridiculous," because the questioner was clearly not interested in any kind of substantive answer.

Guys its IMPERIALS.

Average at everything and good merchants.

They arent going to be the best at anything, besides maybe crafting.

Unless you are an hardcoe imperial fan (do they even exist?) i dont see the problem.

Now if they locked out orcs or argonians i would rage too lol.

*facepalm* If you have to pay for it and cannot get it through gameplay then it is behind a paywall.

It was never about an advantage. I never thought it would be an advantage. The fact is that races are often considered content as they are typically more than just a skin. thus, it is content behind a paywall if they cannot be unlocked through simply playing the game.

I bought the CE, yet it is still messed up if you can't unlock a race (with it's own skill lines) without paying. THis wasn't supposed to be pulling ftp tactics because the sub was supposed to cover that.

I didn't ask them a question.. But I'm sure many people did and I'm sure they were clever enough to do it in a nuanced way.

Have you actually read the argonian abilities? They lend themselves almost solely to being a healer.

You might want to take a peep at Elder Souls and Tamriel Foundry before you say that the skill lines haven't been officially released.

Please tell me how the Altmer skill line suits anything but a mage. Please, go on.

The game is in beta and under NDA so i doubt the skill lines have been officially released.

Actually the Ebonheart ones have, they may change a little, but not a lot.

This.

Anything we're seeing is posted on 3rd-party sites and is taken from the mouths of people who are breaking NDA. It should be taken with a grain of salt.

Please go read under "game info" on here: http://tamrielfoundry.com/

The numbers and things may not be set in stone, but they have released the information on the skills.

And since when the tamriel foundry is an official source?

Btw if you want to lurk the net there are much better sources lol.