Questions About Darker's Den

[Sandmind]

I got abducted a good amount of time, twice in one evening at least once.

I seriously doubt it's time related, but what I do know is that darker den show up at random AND if someone completed it recently in the party, them still being on cooldown is an instant 0% chance to get abducted.

[strikerhunter]

My theory is, remember when they said it would only abduct the most elite of ARKS?
I suspect that you are required to be within a small top percentage of players with the quickest TA times to qualify for abduction.
It likely separates the TA times based on number of party members. That'd explain why it happens to solo much more often, because there probably aren't as many people with crazy solo times.
I think abduction used to happen more often for larger groups because not many people were blazing through TAs back then.
The top times also explains why you never see clones in crappy gear. They are always decked out, because good gear is required to achieve good times.

For example, if the top 15% of 4-person groups constantly complete TAs within 3 minutes, and your 4-person group's average is longer than 3 minutes, you will never get abducted.
On the other hand, if the top 15% of players soloing TA have an average completion time of within 12 minutes, and your average is 11 minutes, then you have a chance to get abducted.
In other words, the faster that the top players complete TA, the less chance the rest of us will ever see abduction.
Especially moreso with people spamming multiple dashes and switching weapons, which I'm sure was much less common before.

Just a theory, anyway.

I want to update my clones, but haven't been abducted for over 6 months. Tried many times, too. Always S rank TA.
I probably haven't been abducted because I essentially duo it, but with 2 of my alts idling in the ship.
That counts as 4, but our times are only as fast as duos.
I suppose I could just leave the alts out, but that'd be a waste of TACO money.

No. It's far too unfair to allow contents just for "elites".

As said before, it's all random. Heck if you want, I can disprove your theory.

I got abducted a good amount of time, twice in one evening at least once.

I seriously doubt it's time related, but what I do know is that darker den show up at random AND if someone completed it recently in the party, them still being on cooldown is an instant 0% chance to get abducted.

There was a rumor about a 3 day cooldown but I had a 3-in-a-row DD experience so I rule that out.

As I just said before editing since post was crossed, ^ ^ ^ It's all random.

[Coatl]

I once completed a Den and then got Den'd again right after I started the next TA. The whole 3-day cooldown is a myth if anything.

[Z-0]

that "elite" thing is probably not true because where are my 10 back-to-back dens?

(that being said I usually get den'd once every 2 or 3 days, usually a bit longer if unlucky)

No. It's far too unfair to allow contents just for "elites".

I disagree because people should have some sort of goal to work towards. I disagree with it being "elites" so to speak, but what's wrong with trying to push people to try their best?

[Bellion]

Completed on the same character twice? Cooldown is probably not 3 days or anything, but I've never gotten abducted on the same character twice in a day if I completed it once. I've gotten all 3 of my characters abducted on the same day before, but that's about it :|

[TaigaUC]

I updated my theory to explain some other possibilities.

Anyway, if I'm not mistaken, it was SEGA who said abductions only occur for the most elite of ARKS.
Even if my theory is incorrect, going by what they said, they're probably using some kind of system that pertains to elitist selection in some way.

It'd also explain why they don't want to tell us how it works, because people would just give up if they knew they had no chance.
I know it's "too unfair", but a lot of this game is unfair. I don't think that "unfair" alone is an adequate reason for dismissing the entire theory.
I wouldn't dismiss a theory based on whether I feel that it's unfair. If it's possible, then it's still a valid theory.

You can say it's just random, but that doesn't explain things like why everyone seems to get abducted much more often in solo, in a row, while doing large group TAs for a year and never seeing it.
The random likely isn't THAT random. It can still be random while being influenced by set factors.

Anyway, if you want to test it out, try doing TAs with fast times, and with varying numbers of group members.
I'm too lazy to test it extensively myself.

I don't mind if you disprove my theory, I just want to know how it works so I can get abducted.
I even check the JP wiki from time to time to see if anyone's figured it out yet, but they haven't.
Just remember that if you find do find something that seemingly invalidates the theory, there may be other explanations or layers of systems that we haven't thought of.
For example, stuff like "it's based on party leader", or perhaps that the entire theory only factors into the chance of abduction instead of simply locking out the non-elitists.

[strikerhunter]

I disagree because people should have some sort of goal to work towards. I disagree with it being "elites" so to speak, but what's wrong with trying to push people to try their best?

There's nothing wrong to that, really I mean it.

But restricting it to only those with those best high scoring timers is just bad in my opinion. Sure, yea it pushes players to do better to get that content but you have to look at the bigger picture though. Not everyone will be in that "elite" status or have that fast timer. So in this case if the theory were to be true, casual players will never likely see DD, and "new" players that entered VH TAs will likely never see DD for a very very very very long time.

That's as far as I'll go because I wouldn't want to mention all of the other negative aspects of doing so.

[Evangelion X.XX]

I would like to add that I'm by no means a "top-tier-flashy-expert" that can do all sorts of dash-cancelling/triple-dashing in order to minimize time in TA's--I'm just your average player with average skills who takes his sweet time in TA's often getting A Ranks on VH solo. In spite of that though, I still got abducted. So may be conditions for getting abducted doesn't really depend on being an "elite" but on something if else, that is, if it totally isn't a random phenomenon.

[TaigaUC]

It's not really a matter of what we believe is fair or whether we agree or disagree.
I don't like that kind of system at all. I also completely despise random number generation in virtually any form.

My point is, if SEGA is using such a system, they likely have a reason for it.
We can only speculate what their reasoning may be, and it might be a stupid reason.

For example, they may have prioritized "clones should be tough, so only the elite should be abducted" over "everyone should have a chance to be abducted."
I don't think they've designed the game with the utmost care for fair accessibility. It's a lot easier to throw together unfair systems than to think things out and balance them fairly.

[strikerhunter]

I updated my theory to explain some other possibilities.

Anyway, if I'm not mistaken, it was SEGA who said abductions only occur for the most elite of ARKS.
Even if my theory is incorrect, going by what they said, they're probably using some kind of system that pertains to elitist selection in some way.

It'd also explain why they don't want to tell us how it works, because people would just give up if they knew they had no chance.
I know it's "too unfair", but a lot of this game is unfair. I don't think that "unfair" alone is an adequate reason for dismissing the entire theory.
I wouldn't dismiss a theory based on whether I feel that it's unfair. If it's possible, then it's still a valid theory.

Anyway, if you want to test it out, try doing TAs with fast times, and with varying numbers of group members.
I'm too lazy to test it extensively myself.

I don't mind if you disprove my theory, I just want to know how it works so I can get abducted.
I even check the JP wiki from time to time to see if anyone's figured it out yet, but they haven't.

Me leads to disprove your theory:

-I've done DD with my team only whom all VH TA in groups only and we normally finish all TAs 10-15mins each whereas comparing to those with 2-8mins record and yet I had been abducted 8 times with 3 back-to-back as said before.

-When Sega said elitist, they where probably meaning towards players that are in VH levels aka close to current endgame.

-There are several friends I know that runs TA in groups hitting 5-8min TA runs and had never gotten DD or at least 1 and never again.

Although the only portion I can't disprove is:

You can say it's just random, but that doesn't explain things like why everyone seems to get abducted much more often in solo, in a row, while doing large group TAs for a year and never seeing it.
The random likely isn't THAT random. It can still be random while being influenced by set factors.

Primarily I can't disprove this because
1. I don't ever solo VH TA.
2. Unknown factor is not known.