In an extremely unexpected development, notifications for tower anchoring have been disabled throughout New Eden, leaving sovereignty-holding alliances in a difficult position. Before the most recent update, alliances would receive an alert when towers were planted in their territory. It now appears that feature has been altered. The change leaves a large blind spot for both logistical and defensive null-sec operations.
It is currently unclear whether this may be an unintentional side-effect of the current update, or if this was a stealth change to gameplay. If it is the latter, it will give a tremendous boost to organized and mobile alliances that can capitalize on the implications of having unnoticed towers. Alliances will be able to create staging areas that are off the radar, which will enable all manner of surprise attacks.
The situation will prove to be especially tedious for logistic crews that have to manage large swathes of space. The task of regularly checking systems for new towers will likely fall onto them, including systems that have dozens of moons. Fleet commanders will also have to take additional precautions that might not have been previously necessary, sending scouts to check moons for enemy installations before engagements.
Removing tower alerts has come without notice and was not an issue that was under heavy debate before the recent change. At first glance, the removal may seem relatively minor, but the ramifications to intelligence and fleet combat are magnified. Null-sec towers serve numerous offensive and defensive purposes in the PVP dynamic. They allow alliances to create staging areas for capital and super-capital fleets, establish safe spots, and more secure warp-outs.
With the Era of Entosis upon us, eliminating notifications about tower placements also serves to reinforce the importance of living in your actual space. The ability of a tower to go unnoticed will be reduced in regions that are populated by active pilots. For aggressors it provides a multiplier to contesting sovereignty when taken in concert with the free-porting mechanic. It remains to be seen if CCP will claim this as a glitch, hold course, or make further alterations to compensate.
