An Epic Quest

[AKMatt]

This one, being the epitome of challenge, should probably go into the 2-3 hour length.  It should make Sinister Enclave look tame, and it should feature a bunch of puzzles, too.

[Caddies]

Sinister Enclave already goes for 3-4 hours, and basically fits the bill of the 'Epic Quest' in every way save for scripted puzzles, which can be added retroactively if its considered important.

I have to agree with Sandstorm, I think the time might be better spent elsewhere rather than on a dungeon that might be attempted once every few months, at best.

[Halfbrood]

I agree. Sweet dungeons like this always work better as DM quests.

[The Crimson Magician]

moar riddles

[Ommadawn]

It sounds like a great idea, and if it gets your creative juices flowing, do it please.

[Belgaroth]

If I was sure that there would be no lag, no crash, or anything else out of my control that would cause the death of my char, I would do anything!

[djspectre]

The concept of a scripted, RP based sort of Permadeath quest sounds excellent. Loot should be generated based on the characters and their classes.

And I agree that it should be a capstone sort of quest. Meaning that once you complete it, your character is marked as like unable to do any other quests because, in effect, this was the ultimate test for them. In lieu of this, I would recommend that the quest have a level min that is quite high so that completion could act as a semi-retirement. You could still play the character, go exploring, do DM quests or be allowed to do rescues of other players/characters on scripted quests (of course because a DM ports you into the QA) but scripted quests could not be started with this 'capstoned' character in your party.

[core]

I definitely prefer this idea as a DM sort of thing, rather than something that will only be attempted by those few who enjoy such challenges every few months. Like Sassy's dungeon!

[Zymnarkmar]

This sounds like the awesome... Having a DM working in the background during this quest to provide cool spice and RP (did I mention RP) possibly with some evil bad ass that must be defeated or [gasp] OUTWITTED would be great!  To give the feel of REAL role-playing (pen and paper) with skill checks and NO RESPAWNING in EFU:A sounds amazing.  :)  EFU:A ROCKS!

[Garem]

Neat, but unlockable by DM only preferably.

[Vendayan]

Great idea in theory, but in practice it would be a waste of time.  Honestly, if someone did happen to beat the quest, who would care?  Unless one of those victorious players walks away with loot so spectacular that it in itself could effect the server in a large and noticeable way (10 charges of FoD or such) nobody is going to think twice of it except for the players who were there.  People typically care FAR more about what leaves their footprint on the server and it requires a DM to responsibly do that.  Otherwise there will be 2 hours of buzz in IRC and an hour of buzz IG around it before your hero is forgotten.

The only difference between this quest any any of the others that nobody currently has the balls to do is that they weren't labeled as the definitive "extreme" quest/instance on the server.  Pick any of the current difficult quests such as Enclave and spice it up a bit to make it even tougher and something "new".  Then have some NPC offer an actual title with IG privileges for completing it or something.  Thereby having the same effect and saving hours upon hours of dev/testing time.

If you REALLY want to make this work.  Force this and some of the other scripted quests to have larger effects on the server.  Completion of each quest for instance might lean power towards some factions or others.  Completion of grander quests might have some significant effects on all sorts of things.  Beat down some of trogs once in a while and prices for any docks merchants might drop as trade becomes more efficient.  Take on a few orcs in a scripted quest and see the random wilderness spawns ease up a tad from them.  Overcome impossible odds by risking fates worse than death in RwG's new 10th plane of hell and who knows what sort of things people could see happen (free succubi slaves for everyone?).  Then you'll have a chance to make yourself an Epic Hero of Legend worth talking about.

Otherwise the first time someone completes the quest, it would no longer be considered the extreme and you'll have to go make another, even tougher one.  Then the DM team will have to fall into a WoW like development pattern to keep up with such a simple concept.