They have different abilities.

Racial skill lines are akin to talents in a talent tree. It is not just cosmetic, this is visible in their released videos, press statements etc. There are NDA breaches (or they may not be since they were on this site for a while yesterday - - though out of date and a bit buggy).

By their very own descriptions for the CE they describe the exclusive race as "content".

He apparently is arguing that the publisher is lying about that...

_{I really really dont understand the problem everyones been having with these changes. I mean everything in this world revolves around the more you pay the more you get, from cars to colleges to food. Why when it happens in a game is it not ok? Do you get on BMWs website and complain about the price compared to Fords? Please someone explain the difference to me between this and my satelite company wanting more money for HBO.}

Hello? Altmer has always been altmer and they will always be altmer and we all know how altmer are.

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Thalmor_(Online)

The Thalmor are a faction that serve the http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Aldmeri_Dominion_(Online) in http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/The_Elder_Scrolls_Online.^{http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Thalmor_(Online)#cite_note-Map-0}

Thalmor representatives can be contacted in the city of http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Marbruk. Worship of the http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Daedric_Prince http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Hircine, whose cultists have been seizing unwary travelers in http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Greenshade, is not tolerated by Thalmor authorities.^{http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Thalmor_(Online)#cite_note-Map-0}

Yup that's fair enough.

I just hope that this all evens-out over time. I respect the developers and they seem to care a great deal about the game they are making. It would be a massive shame if the publishers had twisted things to the point that the developers no longer felt comfortable doing what they love and the content being created was a total scam. But i'm still going to show my support for the devs, however this pans out - as I hope everyone else will!

But what if you buy a car, assuming you can ride it everywhere you want, and it turns out that you have to pay extra for a fourth wheel? You have the brochure which says you have any wheel ("Any race", for people who don't understand this example) you want, to drive everywhere you want.

you can't compare games to other medium's directly, certainly not a PHYSICALLY MANUFACTURED item. But let's compare this to a DVD or TV box set. This is not a matter of "extras" being sold for a premium. There's a reason they don't release TV series with the last episode missing, or movies with a key scene missing, to be sold for an extra $20.

This is
a) a CORE tes race

one removed before launch to be sold as premium content on Day 1

c) directly conflicts with promises the developers made about their reasoning for a full price+subscription model, and

d) marks new ground for monetization in video games. Full price, plus sub, plus cash shop, with a premium RACE in an RPG on day 1.

I only checked the first video, and all I have to say, is that this guy focused on the wrong points. The big problem with the pre order thingy is that it is allowing you to play any race on any alliance, and will turn pvp from AvAvA into a blue vs green vs yellow, stupid GW2 style of pvp.

The imperial thing is not a big deal. It is just another race with no advantages over the rest which does not mess up with the lore (much)

Why should the open it for free? its an special service for an pretty small group of people who want to play with friends of other races.

Its not something random causal players care about. Yes some serious roleplayers might want to play an in other factions but for most they want to find an race they like an play it without thinking of factions.

In short have they moved Khajiit to the Ebonheart pact I would not care much even if I dislike the smelling lizards, Nords are far more smelly at lest Argonainas bath.

Yes we probably get an option to pay to change faction after start later. Also because playing with friends. it will be far more expensive than selecting at start.

In short this is an important option for some people. the rest don't want lots of other races in their faction.

Best compromise is to make it available for an cost. I would prefer an small xp debuff say -10% below level 20 instead. but the cash shop work well enough for this.

Every game on the planet that is released has CE content now a days.......

People really should have seen it coming. We said it awhile ago. From everything we have seen and heard this IS NOT an Elder Scrolls game. It is a cheap knock off MMO with the Elder Scrolls name. In the beginning they said all the right things. developers may have even believed it. But as they saw what they created come to what we have seen in the videos they couldn't look at it and say "yeah I see Elder Scrolls there".

So what happens when you have a niche, albeit huge fanbase? You grab cash from them before they realize everything. You cant get faster than pre-order/release.

Then add in the lack of the NDA being dropped. The Nazi like way ANY sort of hint to anything beta being deleted and offenders being banned. Threats of lawsuits for allowing any such talk and it doesnt take a genius to see what is going on.

The issues are so counter productive, to anyone with a brain, that there cant be any other conclusion.

LONGEVITY of a game is the cornerstone of making a subscription model 'successful'. Subscription type zealots are pretty hard core. We aw how they defended the choice to go sub BECAUSE it kept the pay to win and free to play 'scum' out of 'their' game. Now those people are having second thought. Most of them I would think. So Zenimax just pissed off the CORE base of players they wanted to have. At least if they wanted to stay sub based any length of time.

So the decision here makes it apparent that isnt their real plan. it is as we said quite some time ago. To grab as much money as they can as quickly as they can, milk the hardcoe fanatics for as much as they can then make the transition to buy to play or free to play.

What other conclusion can people draw?

Other than the weak and naive attempts people have used to try and explain this away. The irony is the ones defending THIS situation are the same ones who were crying about it being a sub game in the first place. Because theyre the type who will spend extra for something. The longevity og those players is more than likely short term still. They were going to buy the game, play their free month and more than likely not subscribe. So Zenimax got maximum profit out of them. They offered something that cost more in a 'special' edition.

So its win win for Zenimax, they get the money upfront and after 30 days they clear up a lot of server load.

I just dont know if the people who arent going to buy now is enough to matter. I doubt it. Everyone that rages about it still says 'I am going to buy the game I just cant recommend it now'. Thats a total cop out and their supposed outrage is empty.

I have said the game wasnt worth buying for along time, this just adds more to why people shouldnt buy it.

Good game, not great. But not worth the subscription price from everything we have seen. THIS feeds right into that. If they wanted to release Buy to play right off the tart, sure I would have bought it and maybe even the CE. But they didnt. They said Subscription and they defied everyone with any other opinion. Then this. Well if it wasnt worth a subscription it certainly wasnt worth a subscription and a cash shop. whether that cash shop is in the game or not is irrelevant. You have links to a store where you buy in game items. So people making that argument are really grasping at straws.

Sad thing is Zenimax will make hundreds of millions of dollars, pay for everything they spent, in a month or two people will realize whatthe game is and where it is going. But Zenimax will have all the money and show ONCE AGAIN people will buy ANYTHING no matter what. And that publishers can continue to release trash and get paid.

This is my conflict. I head a guild with a close friend, as we've done for a long time. As major TES fans, we've been planning our presence in TES:O since it was announced, even have a bunch of sweet graphics and a site made up for it.

I'll be playing, certainly, as will many of us. But the skeptics in our group? They're gone for good, and I can no longer in good conscience encourage them to give ZOS their money. I want to reward the developers for a game I see as well designed and built, but their marketing/business department deserves to learn a very hard lesson.

First off i am all about Bashing dev teams for making bad games with bad mechanics, and publishers for money grubbing and back peddling and double speak.

But last month imperial was not even a race to be played. And race unlocks were not even talked about they never said a peep about them so were not part of your game purchase decision anyhow. all these things are offered as marketing to increase pre order sales. there is nothing wrong with that. the rest of the features for pre orders are standard . none of these things give anyone a advantage over the other. EXP rings are ridiculous over the long haul if you consider them to be game breaking . I planned on pre orders just based on 5 day EA . there are a lot of tears over nothing. there is plenty to bash ZOS about in there development process but this is not one of them. So you get a different human now if they broke lore and offered Dwemer as a race you could be pissed. but just another human model relax.

The means they were willing to use in Skyrim and thousands of years prior are far different. In Skyrim the Thalmor want to wipe humans off the face of the earth. In ESO they want to stop the younger races from ruining the earth by keeping them from power.

In Skyrim it made sense because the end goal was something pitting humans against each other only helped. In ESO, the entire goal as stated by the lore, the definition of the AD, and quotes by Ayrenn herself; the only purpose, the ACTUAL ONLY PURPOSE of the union was to stop humans form sitting on the throne because of what they did when sitting on the throne.

refresh my memory on the last full-priced MMO to have a premium race on Day 1. I can't recall one, ever.

Even if it were standard practice, which it's not, it's still a violation of the developers promises over the business model, and a bad/insulting business model in its own right.

The one concern that I have is race-specific dialogue. There wasn't much of it in Skyrim, and I think this more-or-less confirms there won't be much of it in Elder Scrolls Online. If everything were kept faction specific, NPCs could react accordingly if you were playing as a high elf or a khajiit. I don't mean in radiant dialogue. I mean in actual conversations. With only three races per faction, they could afford to spend a bit more time to flesh that out. But I very much doubt a khajiit in Skyrim would be treated any differently than a nord.

If you buy the base game and play in the proper factions, literally nothing has changed for you, they have simply added MORE options. If people want to pay for said options, that's fine, I know I did, because I love the imperials.

Exactly the Thalmor are zealots who tires to restore their peoples former glory. Real life examples of this include nazi Germany and Al-queda, groups of bloodthirsty maniacs who are far far worse than the guys the try to recreate.

EXACTLY.

But no! Most people feels outrageous having to pay to play an imperial.

They dont give a ... about the real issue.

Pope Fiction. They stated way back that they may include imperials as DLC! Whats that? They told the truth, yeah.....I thought so.....

This is the issue...
People buy the box. <People pay the subscription. <Day 1 DLC. <
Think of it as this in relation to HBO. What if you had to pay for certain shows you liked? You pay for your satelite company, you pay for HBO, you pay for 10% of TV shows on HBO. It's additional pricing for something you already paid for. As I have said if it's fine to some people, great for you.

It's not about the cost. I could afford anything they have shown. It's about companies nickle and diming and how much the customer will stand. If people stand for this it will get worse, if not in game then in the industry. For anyone who has ever wondered why some things are becoming so expensive, because people accept it (yes I am aware costs rise but luxury items quite often escelate beyond costs alone). Subscription and boxes still makes a lot of money, as WoW has proven (if you have a successful game it's not far off a printing press after costs are recouped), this is about why make a lot when you could make a lot more.

It was not an announced race to be played. There is a difference. Maybe they wanted the Imperial race as a taa-daa moment but marketing stepped in and said we could monetise that, who knows, what I can guarantee is you will have the code for it regardless of version purchased, you just have to grease the wheels to use it..

We need restrictions on emperorship and a defection quest to justify this... this... this thing

Maybe if we stopped raging like preteen nerds we could start a poll or a petition.

You cant start a petition because people have already purchased the Imperial Edition.

Ohh the noble queen saying she wants the throne to avoid the mess on Tamriel. That's what SHE says. Elves are butthurt since Ysgramor. Altmer think of everyone as their lower and that has never changed, lore wise. The Thalmor in Skyrim are just open about it because they had the advantage. So is acceptable have a Khajiit or a Bosmer as emperor instead of the Queen? Emperor Shandi-Shei wow. Like a friend of mine said, "Elves playing at treachery? I'm shocked!" (Sven, from Skyrim)