TRAVEL
If we had to sum up our entire design philosophy in a word, the word might be "fun." And if there's any one game feature that can most easily sap the fun out of a game if it's not done right, it's travel. Many games insist on arduous traveling experiences, believing that time spent traveling equates to time spent exploring the intricacies of the world. In UXO, we've created a beautiful world, with detailed environments players will want to explore. But that doesn't mean they'll want to see the same length of road four times a day!

In Ultima X: Odyssey, you'll never find yourself having to beg another player to leave their group and come escort you through a dangerous zone, or spend the first half hour of your play session trying to reach your guild's latest hunting spot. By using moongates to teleport between zones, travel will be quick and painless. And for those times when you know exactly who you're trying to reach and want to get there quickly, our "teleport to friend" feature will be a godsend, allowing you to join friends at a moment's notice, no matter where they are. If you've ever played an MMORPG for even a few days, you've experienced travel time. Sometimes it's short, consisting of a quick run to the hills, and sometimes it's long, consisting of a thirty minute boat ride or a fifteen minute horseback trip between cities. And sometimes it's nearly impossible, as is the case when your friends are embedded deep in a dungeon in the middle of a dangerous area, and you're alone on the other side of the world.

Barriers like this can cause extreme frustration, as you spend valuable play time staring at the rear end of a horse, or repeatedly shouting in chat channels for someone who can teleport you anywhere near your destination. Or even worse, it can keep you from grouping with your friends entirely, out of sheer unwillingness to go through the whole travel process only to have to do it again later that night to get back to your original location.

Step Into a Moongate
Traveling in UXO will be easy, while still guiding players to the areas most appropriate to their current character level. Most outdoor zones will feature magical portals, or moongates, which can be used to teleport instantly to other zones. Moongates will have level requirements associated with them, meaning a player will need to be a specific level in order to use that particular moongate.

Entering a moongate will provide a list displaying all moongates in the game, noting which ones are available to a character of your level. You can then choose your destination from all eligible moongates. For example, if your character is level 50, you'll be able to enter any moongate level 50 or under, and you'll be able to teleport to any other moongate level 50 or under, regardless of whether you've visited that zone before.

Bring a Friend, Any Friend
In addition to moongates, we've also added a feature that will allow you to not only move between maps easily, but to join up with friends in an instant just by contacting them and asking them to send you a teleport invitation. By using the hyperlink menu accessed by right-clicking on a character's name in chat or in your friends list, they can invite you to teleport directly to them, provided your character is either in their guild or on their friends list (you can learn more about name hyperlinks here).

In most MMOGs, playing for a half hour would barely be worth the time spent logging in, unless you knew you were already standing at the exact spot you wanted to play in. But in UXO, if you have only 30 minutes in a night to play, you can log in, ask a friend to teleport you, and be a member of their group within your first sixty seconds of playtime, leaving you with 29 minutes to actually play the game! (Of course, we don't think you'll want to play for only 29 minutes, but it's nice to have the option.)

You can't invite someone to teleport to you while you're in combat or targeted by an enemy, or already in a private area (since private areas are created dynamically for a specific group, players cannot enter one after it has already been created). You also won't be able to invite anyone if you're on their ignore list.

Go Where You Want, When You Want
Through the use of level-restricted moongates, brand new characters will have freedom to visit new places easily, while still being protected from accidentally stumbling into a dragon's den. Likewise, friends and guildmates will have the ability to join forces quickly without having to worry about escorts or location coordinates. Sometimes players want to explore, and sometimes players just want to play, and we recognize that. UXO will provide plenty of opportunities for both!