• The Explorer's Pack email I received after purchasing the Imperial Edition includes as one of the "digital" rewards "The ability to play as any race in any alliance"
• The digital rewards are listed as arriving at our in-game mailbox beginning April 4th.
• The 5 day early access presumably will begin on or near March 30th.
• I will have access to the Imperial race that can be played in any alliance.
• The ability to play as an Imperial is not listed as a "digital" item like "The ability to play as any race in any alliance" is.

1. Does this mean that on March 30th I could play an Imperial in any alliance but could not play a Khajiit in the Ebonheart Pact (for example) because I do not receive the "digital item" "The ability to play as any race in any alliance" until April 4th?
2. Will I be able to choose an Imperial on March 30th and begin play in, for example, the Ebonheart Pact, or would I be restricted to playing a Nord, Dunmer or Argonian on March 30th (for Ebonheart)--i.e, is the choice to play as an Imperial simply not possible until April 4th?
3. In one of the online FAQ answers, ZOS clearly responded that the digital items are not duplicated to every character on an account, but instead are unique and that to transfer them to other characters I would need to store them in my account-wide bank. Does this mean that I can only ever have one cross-alliance race character (Khajiit in the Ebonheart Pact, for example), or could I create multiple characters (up to however many we can make per account) and have them in other alliances?
4. Will I be able to create multiple Imperial characters and have them in the same or different alliances, or am I limited to one Imperial character on my account?

Good questions. I would like to see some clarification as well.

My first character is going to be an alliance defector, and it would be pointless to play 5 days early if I can not.

I have the same questions.

I think you will have every option from the start. They just decided on these items at different times and have not worded them correctly.

I just talked to an awesome Zenimax support member. You can upgrade to Imperial Edition and Explorer's after launch if you only bought the Standard.

Perhaps, but as it stands it's not at all clear how it will work in practice.

From a purely role-playing perspective, I'd like to have my family of Khajiit flee from Altmer legal authorities into the Ebonheart Pact, but if we can only pick one character instead of several, that won't be possible

It would be great to get these questions cleared up by an official source as soon as possible so as to avoid widespread confusion or even anger. Maybe a moderator could pass these questions on to a Daedric Prince for an official response?

That sounds good, but I'm more interested in the specific character creation questions: Can I start the game 5 days early as a Khajiit in Ebonheart, can we do that for each character or just one per account, multiple Imperials and so forth as outlined in the original post.

It says you can play in any alliance. This affects also to PvP?

Yeah, I would think so.

Now don't shoot the cute Khajiit and the nice Argonians, they are on your side now...

I imagine you can pick any alliance but once you DO pick it, you're IN it. So you cannot ~change~ your alliance willy-nilly to play for whichever alliance you want whenever you want. Could be wrong, of course, but that would REALLY screw with the heads of PvP'ers if a known "enemy" was suddenly on your side and then tomorrow he was back to being an enemy...

i would like to know too. I hope the early access is for the race and pact you want to use. I will be a nord in Ebonheart, and I want to play like this since the 5 days early access.

EDIT: And another question. Is this early access just for the digital version? I guess you can't buy the boxed game 5 days before release?

This actually excites me. People who think forced alliances fits lore more than breaks it doesn't know the lore.

I am playing an Argonian and have stated elsewhere that I feel forced into playing Ebonheard Pact even though it makes little sense for an Argonian to trust them enough to ally with them. Many Argonians live outside of the Black Marsh and trade with the races/cultures around the world. The only interest Argonians have in this upcoming war is to ensure Molag Bal does not take over Tamriel and if told through the Hist of the upcoming danger Argonians would ally with whom ever they liked best in order to stop this threat. They have no interest in controlling Cyrodiil for empire building reasons alone.

It would be MORE lore breaking being forced into a faction. They would choosing their own path depending on personal and situational reasons. Many could never look past the history between their race and the Dark Elves.

Nevermind, found my answer.

You are correct, when you create a character you'll be able to choose what alliance you are in, but afterwards you cannot change it. (You can explore the other alliance territory as 50+ and 50++ content, like any other character).

So if you want to play as a Khajiit who hates elves, you can create them as a member of the Daggerfall Covenant. If you later decide elves aren't so bad, you can't decide to switch to Aldmeri Dominion.

Not intrest in controlling Cyrodiil , so their gonne betrey the fraction that was founded to fight with Molag Bal to join one of fraction that is primary interested in controlling Cyrodiil.

Also Argonians would ally with whom ever Hist thinks is a better choice and there is diffrenece between that and liking someone more.

To be honest I don't really care that much about it , personally I thought that orginal idea was much better, but majority wanted to join other fractions and I can respect that.

This is just a guess - it will take a ZOS employee to confirm, but I think the term "digital item" refers to things that actually have a "physical" representation in the game. I.e., they can be seen in your inventory. The ability to make a character of a certain race in a certain alliance doesn't seem to me to be a "item" per se, while a ring, a vanity pet, and even a mount could be.

That's my take.

Someone will always control Cyrodiil. My character can leave the faction at any time he wishes. Your alternative is to support the Dark Elves in taking over Cyrodiil so they can expand their power to further surround the Black Marsh? What happens when the alliance breaks? The Argonians are now surrounded by a bolstered Dark Elf empire. OH SIGN ME UP! not. Argonians traded and worked with Imperials during their reign(s) so working with Bretons wouldn't be a far stretch but working under the yoke of the dark elves forever isn't a concept Argonians could live with for long.

Until, of course, you guys introduce a $30 alliance-switching scroll in the online store.

The Explorer's Pack and "5 days sooner" are also included in the Standard Edition pre-order - i.e. even players who won't have access to Imperials will be able to play sooner and in any alliance. Ergo, yes, all of the races and alliance options will be available to you before launch.

Also, I don't see any reason to limit any of the pre-order bonuses to 1 character per account? Highly unlikely. Pretty sure all of the benefits can be used on any number of characters.

@Eps - I certainly hope that's how it will work. It makes perfect sense to let us make as many Imperial or cross-alliance races as we like, 5 days early if we want. It makes no sense to make us wait until April 4th to do either, nor to limit the # of such characters that we can create.

However, I would like an official response just to be absolutely certain

LOL.

If you want an official response, follow the cues of one of the earlier replies and talk to a ZO representative via chat. However, you've been given correct answers for everything except whether or not you will be limited to one Imperial character per account. I can't see that being the case, but there hasn't been any word on that.

Nice avatar, big fan of Aliens and Danny LuVisi myself.

1. If you got the Imperial Edition, you have the explorer's pack included, so you can play an imperial or any race in any alliance.

2. You will likely be able to play an Imperial the moment you can first log into the game.

3. I don't think the characters count as an item, it's just a new choice you have during character creation. You just have to choose who gets the mini-pets, the horse, the armor and the rings at any given time.

4. I think, again, it's just a race choice, so multiple Imperial characters should be possible.

Pretty sure this is how it will work.

PS: Welcome to the forums! Have a fishy-stick! https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTGguQUrKpJFufzkRlIJev8pXPYIQLyp9TIlYf1yXeQJq83UlXW

@ZOS_AlanG

• Having purchased the Digital Imperial Edition, will I be able to play as an Imperial starting 5 days early?
• Will I be able to play multiple cross-alliance characters (ie several Khajiit in the Ebonheart Pact) starting 5 days early?

Thanks!