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Blackout - Local Chat Goes Dark
CCP delayed local chat in nullsec, removing the long-standing free intel channel. The shift remained for several months and reshaped fleet behaviour before being partly reversed.
Blackout - Local Chat Goes Dark
Blackout was an unscheduled change: CCP turned local chat in nullsec from instant intelligence into a delayed channel without warning. Local had been the free intel layer for nullsec for sixteen years, and its removal forced fleets, ratters, and miners to operate on directional scan and probes alone.
The change was controversial. PvE income in null collapsed, ratting fleets died, and some alliances temporarily withdrew sovereignty operations. CCP partially reversed the change later in the year.
The long-standing assumption that local chat is your first warning has become unreliable. Even today, expect intermittent CCP experiments around it.