So I bought the Imperial Edition from Gamestop at my local store. I will be there for the midnight release when it does come out. Now when I bought it I got a code on the receipt to enter and throw into redeem, did that, and now I have early access of course.

My question is, with the early access, will I be limited to the 9 races or will I have access to the Imperial that comes with the IE? Only thing I can think of is that the IE has a special code inside the box to allow you to enter the game with that special edition stuff. Well of course I won't have that right away for early access.

So anyone have any ideas?

I believe they've said that if you bought the Imperial Edition that you could make Imperial characters during the early access, but I may be mistaken.

OK. I just am kinda worried of course only seeing "Early Access" listed under the games list on my account. Don't want to have to wait 5 days or get started and have to restart should I choose to play as Imperial. Honestly I'm more into the armor than anything else. I have always loved their armor, Roman looks, compared to the others. Also, Molag Bal is going to look so good in my display case.

Go to the TESO website and into your account. Go to billing history. Does it show the Imperial Edition, or just "early access"? If it shows the Imperial Edition you are all set, but if it only shows early access, you may not have the ability to play an Imperial immediately; you will need the CE activation key specifically.

Post 21 is my talks with support and TESO. Though this thread is about digital purchases, I am going to assume this applies to people who purchased the physical CE in a retail store.

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1486024-question-to-imperial-digital-buyers/

I don't believe there is any "official" word on whether or not we'll be able to play as Imperials or as any race, any alliance during early access. Different people have posted conversations with ZOS support that claim both yes and no, depending which one you read.

Would be nice to have an official statement on the matter.

The email you got mentions in the lines all Explorer pack and Imperial Edition bonuses apply as of the 4th of April at the earliest. also, the FAQ for preorders has this question within it saying all bonuses from IE and EP are from 4.4.14 and onward.

So no imps or cross faction characters before official launch. Kind of a bummer, if you were planning your first char to be imperial.

edit; Typo making things lightly inapropriate...

It's only explorer pack items that aren't available before the 4th. It wouldn't make sense for them to not make imperials or any race in any faction available for early access.

(in truth it also doesn't make sense for them to not make the items available either)

from the FAQ on elderscrollsonline.com

Well that's BS. So I get to play 5 days early to sit there on my hands and either waste 5 days and restart or just say screw it and go on about my buisness!?

It says items. Races will be available. Races don't need to be redeemed or mailed to you or anything, they're simply unlocked.

See, this is what I was talking about. We've had "confirmation" from support saying both yes and no to races and early access. Needs an official statement from the company.

One could mince words, but usually, digital items include unlocked features. But to be fair, you may be right about this. and i certainly hope so! My first character will be a Breton for the DC, and my second will be imperial for someone else. I am not too worried personally, but i do know many would be bummed out at having to create a dude for the 5 first days then restart. We also don't know how many character slots we will have at the official release, but your first character could still find use as a crafter.

I am offering suggestions here, i don't mean to sound like i'm defending this decision if that's the way it plays out. But making the best of things is the first rule of having fun with a game. I hope for everyone's sake that races and alliance swap is available for the 5 first days as well. Especially for getting that awesome name for the right dude.

Agreed. They need to make an official statement explaining all these questions that have come up. Now is a good chance for the team to show that they want to be on the players side and keep communication lines open.

You're not the only one who hopes so. I'm not entirely confident that I'm right. Part of the reason is because it makes no sense to me to not allow preorder items before the 4th.

I do know that even if I'm wrong and we can't create imperials from the start I'll still be OK. I'll just make my orc as my first character. But the whole thing isn't making much sense.

It wouldn't be smart for ZOS to not let the customer (who paid extra btw) use a special feature early.

We can't use our horses, Rings Of Mara or treasure maps early, and that's confirmed as of right now. So I'm not entirely confident.

It sort of makes sense if you think about the rings of mara. Exp boost + 5 days head start? That could lead to one group of people having a large advantage. Minus the exp rings.. things might not look so ugly.

Now if they don't allow me to use my imperial race, I am going to be annoyed. The five day head start doesnt mean much if you cant build the character you want

Dumb if you ask me. Those items should be available on day one of early release.

I've pre-ordered, but I'll probably just skip the early access. April the 4th is on a Friday, so if I take the day off and then maybe a day or two after the weekend: I'll be able to have a solid 4-5 days to play. Early access would be during my regular workdays, so I won't have much time to play anyway. We'll see. Once the early access starts I might just be too excited and tempted to wait another 5 days.

There has been quite a bit of ambiguity about the entire IE and EP it seems. the EP says on the main page that it is offered "through participating retailers" and the "participating retailers" here in Canada are BestBuy and FutureShop (same company). however ordering through EB Games (Canada's GAMESTOP branch) nets you the EP anyways, which is good, of course, else EB would sell nothing before release. Still, not entirely clear.

And now this, but I do take things as the most likely thing as truth. Occam's Razor, the simplest answer wins the title of fact. if they say no digital items before the 4th, then Items must refer to the question of "packs" and therefore either packs will not be available. Also, pre-release access may still count as a bonus Beta access pre-launch. being a free bonus, they are not legally bound to make it clear as to what it entails. Not a big evil, considering Sony's planetside membership bonus of 500SC per month, lost if you removed your CC info from their site written in very small print at the bottom. Charcoal on black. Nice.

+1 for an official answer please!

In the meantime I'll go with my own predictions:

- Imperial race: available only after you enter your game key. Digital edition buyers will get this key before early access, while Physical edition buyers will need to wait.

- Any race in any faction: available for everyone with early access.

- Items: received by in-game mail on 4/4

Edit: turns out that http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1486024-question-to-imperial-digital-buyers/hints that the first point is probably true

Ouch! i hope not. I didn't pay the highest available price to be dinged out of something, regardless of it i use it or not. that would cheese some people off. This is kind of the reason why i think everyone will be on the same footing. All bonus content April 4th. So the physical copy people don't get a shaft, so noone gets it. it's statue collectors like me holding pre-release Imperials from happening! SORRY!

But at this point, still who knows. An official answer would be nice, but i do not expect an official answer to come on a forum board with 12 members checking in.

suppourt said that the imp race would be available if you had a CE edition.

Just contact support they will answer the question if you dont believe me.