Will the Imperials be unlockable somehow if I don't purchase the Collectors Edition I think we need an answer on this subject?

Who knows!

But i suspect they will.

Nothing official atm on the matter.

What we know at this time (afaik)

The standard digital edition is 59.99, the Imperial digital edition is 79.99. I am interested in how much the retail CE is but if I have to pay extra and then wait five days to play to get a statue a book and a map I am probably going to pass.

As far as being unlockable I say meh, MEH! Of course that is just me and if playing an imperial is something you want to do I hope they release this information before the end of March.

Well it doesn't hurt to ask and maybe get an announcement somewhere I know not on here but someplace lol

Just my speculation, but I don't think imperials will be unlocked for non-CE users anytime soon, but stay exclusive for at least a year or something and then maybe they will release some kind of Imperial DLC for non-CE users, I guess

One side of me hopes they unlock for all after they beat the main quest. That'd be fair.

The other side of me like to preorder and show my prestige. When I got the limited edition Halo 4 Console, I got this hella lame Unicorn armor that I loved to rock out to show my early supporterness.

However I guess for such a big part of Elder Scrolls (10% of the race selection) that is unfair to keep from everyone forever. It sounds like something they would almost NEED to put into a cash shop to keep the preorders happy that they made a wise investment of their money, however that would be running directly counter to their goal of making cash shop items not game breaking, and blocking access to racial skills sounds like more than cosmetic.

I don't think so.

The point to make them a pre-order bonus is to limit their supply, same with being able to make any race in any faction. An Imperial or non-faction race in your alliance is supposed to be a rare thing, and this is a proven and tested way to accomplish that.

They might re-introduce them when pre-ordering an expansion, but other than that, I don't think we'll get another chance to get them.

I honestly have never really cared for playing as an imperial so I will probably just stick with my usual

Straight from the FAQ on the official website.

Unlock from cash shop as expected. Guess this is true for any race in any faction too.