I've been reading this thread with interest the last couple days and felt my response needed to be echoed here...
I don't want to throw my controller across the room or to delevel if I die but I also don't want everything to be a cakewalk where I can be watching a movie on my other monitor and half the party dying barely slows us down. Both extremes are no fun for me.
We need some activities that fall somewhere in the middle of that. Something where one death in a group won't be the end of the world but a couple of deaths would be a major setback. I want all 8 people to have to pay attention and be on their toes. To have to equip appropriate equipment and come prepared with the right food and medicines.
I want these activities to be dynamic where people have to actually think and react to things to succeed. Something where a couple of screwups would be noticeable and may even cause you to fail the activity.
Please notice I wrote some activities above, I also want activities that I can do in a more leisurely fashion in addition to the above. Heck I want them to also add things even harder and more brutal than what I describe above for those who would enjoy it. We need activities for every playstyle.