General:Ask Us Anything: Variety Pack 13

Originally published February 18, 2014. The original article can be found here.
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Read on to find out more about ESO, including more answers about pre-orders and the Imperial Edition.

We're always looking for opportunities to answer your questions about ESO, and we've got a brand new batch for you today. This week, we've been watching for your queries about pre-ordering and the Imperial Edition in particular, so check out the answers to those (and more) below. If you have a question about crafting, send it to us on one of our social media channels or drop us a line at community@elderscrollsonline.com and we'll consider it for the upcoming AuA.
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''When I play a game, I like to experience every facet of it. I try to go everywhere and try everything I can get my hands on in search of, well, fun. But I also like to specialize and explore a skill/weapon/class thoroughly. How many characters will I be able to make in ESO? Will it be enough to try it all?''

You'll have eight character slots available to you, which will give you opportunities to explore the game and create a wide variety of characters specializing in all sorts of different skill lines. Combine this with the fact that each character can explore all three alliance territories, participate in PvP in Cyrodiil, and earn tons of skill points through leveling, questing, and exploration (which you can choose to re-allocate for a cost in gold), and you'll have an enormous amount of room to experiment and get the most out of your journeys in Tamriel.


''If I get the Rings of Mara from the Imperial Edition, does the friend I decide to perform the ceremony with also need to have purchased the Imperial Edition in order for us both to get the bonus?

Only one copy of the Imperial Edition is required. When you purchase the Imperial Edition, you receive the Pledge of Mara. This is the item you use to get the Rings of Mara. Only one Pledge of Mara is required—both people do not need to have it.

The pledge can be equipped for use. Two characters can approach a Shrine of Mara within the game. While standing on sacred ground, the character with the pledge can target the character without and then use the pledge to evoke the Ritual of Mara.  Both characters must agree to share this commitment. Upon acceptance, a celebration occurs and the rings are placed in each character’s inventory. The rings are marked with the name of the matching character.  While wearing the ring and adventuring with the corresponding partner, both characters will receive a bonus to their experience. This bonus stacks with others.

Each pledge can only be used once. The names on the rings cannot be changed. This union is forever.


''When do I receive the full benefits of the Explorer's Pack?''

The full range of in-game benefits from the Explorer’s Pack will be unlocked on April 4th. From the start of Early Access, players who pre-ordered or pre-purchased any edition of The Elder Scrolls Online will be able to take advantage of the ability to play as any race in any alliance. To enable this, pre-order customers and customers who pre-purchased from a 3rd party online retailer must first redeem their 3-day or 5-day Early Access code at our official site before the start of the Early Access period.
If you have pre-purchased any edition of The Elder Scrolls Online from the ESO Digital Store, you do NOT need to take any further action.


Will a guild leader be able to change their guild’s alliance choice in-game after the guild is created?''

Guild leaders won't be able to change a guild’s alliance affiliation after the guild is created. This is important in AvA, because guilds can only capture keeps for their chosen alliance. For this reason, it's important for guild leaders and members to choose an alliance carefully. When an individual player joins a guild, all of the characters on that player’s account will gain access to the guild regardless of their character's alliance.


''If I pre-ordered or pre-purchased the Imperial Edition, will I be able to play as an Imperial during Early Access?

During the Early Access period, Imperial Edition customers who have entered their 5 Day Early Access code at elderscrollsonline.com will have access to the following:

Play as an Imperial and craft Imperial gear
Transform any gear to look like Imperial gear
Imperial Horse
Rings of Mara

Customers who pre-purchased the Imperial Edition from our ESO store have no further action required, as the above items will unlock automatically for you at the start of Early Access.
From April 4th, customers who pre-ordered the physical Imperial Edition must enter their Imperial Pack code in the box in order to retain these items and to fully unlock the full Imperial Pack contents.


Will I get the vanity pet on all my characters?

The vanity pets in ESO are accessible account-wide. Any character can read the in-game mail that the vanity pet is delivered in, and retrieve the attachment. When a character retrieves an attachment, the attachment is removed from the in-game mail and placed in the character’s inventory for use. If you wish to use the vanity pet on a different character, you can simply place it in the bank and retrieve it with the new character.  Each attachment is a single item.


In order to craft and transform armor into the Imperial style, do I need to play as an Imperial?

All races can innately craft items in their style, and the Imperials are no exception—Imperial characters can innately craft Imperial items. Characters that are not Imperials must find the Imperial racial style book while exploring Tamriel in order to craft Imperial style armor.
Those who have purchased the Imperial Edition will also be able to convert weapons and armor of other racial styles into the Imperial style. This ability is not limited to characters of the Imperial race.  However, once converted, an item becomes bound to the account.  Imperial converted items cannot be traded or purchased by players who did not purchase the Imperial Edition. Those players will need to buy goods from Imperial crafters.


If you want to start out and level with friends, do you all have to be the same race to log in and quest from level one together? Or do you just need to be members of the same alliance?''

If you want to start adventuring with your friends right from the get-go, all you need to do is ensure you've all selected the same alliance. After you're done with the introduction, you'll find yourselves in the same location, and you'll be able to group up and get to the action! Don't forget that you can get together and form a guild, too.


''As a member of the Aldmeri Dominion, will I be prohibited from travelling in the swamps of Black Marsh or the deserts of Hammerfell? Or will I be able to travel freely throughout Tamriel?''

Once you've completed your alliance's zones, your character will be able to journey to and explore the other alliance territories, so your Dominion character will eventually be able to see all the sights in the game.


''Will there be a way to disable the vanity pet feature? Will I be able to make my vanity pets disappear or will they always follow me like some sort of insect attracted to a light.''

No matter how attractive your heroic glow is, you don't have to have a vanity pet tagging along at your heels if you don't want to. Don't use the item to summon one, and you'll be free of pesky, cute critters getting underfoot while you try to get serious adventuring done!