How can anyone here trust ZOS anymore, creating a paygate, when they explicitly said they would not (SEVERAL times) now opens the floodgate for them to do whatever they want.

What? Explain what this is about. I do not know what a paygate is.

ZOS had always been relatively adamant that there would be no pay to win or nickel and diming of the players, but they seem to have reversed that position. ZOS had also said that the factions would be race locked and that imperials weren't playable, but now you can have both; for a price. There's a lack of trust because their business practices seem pretty shady at this point. Now there is a paygate to play the Imperials, and you must pre-order the game to have the ability to play any faction with any race.

That's an extremely misleading way of putting it.

You will have to pay extra to have access to the Imperial race. If you consider that to be a significant in-game advantage, then rage away. You do not, however, have to pay anything extra for the any-race/any-faction feature. You just have to pre-order the game at the same price you would pay at launch.

the floodgate has always been open; it's their product and they will alter it as they see fit to make the most profit.

This may upset people for a little while, but it is far from game-breaking.

Watch out, here comes a lock.

We are not discussing the payment model.

If you want to discuss the CE Edition, there are many other threads out there, such as this one

http://www.gamesas.com/topic/1485906-is-zos-liyingproof-from-interview/