Challenge Modes - Ideas and Feedback

[Row]

I think just an Ironman mode would be enough:

-no shops, no towns except last hope for the main quest, no side quests
-start with 0 gold, and no gold is ever generated - you don't need it anyway
-stairs one way
-rod of recall usable only after the zone boss(es) is killed
-always only one zone available for completion, according to main current quest - no triggered events. Possibly you can only decide whether to do trollmire bonus level, and lake of nur after old forest
-no farportal, otherwise fortress energy could be used

[Davion Fuxa]

...One Man Leaves
You may not leave a level (at ALL) until all enemies are killed.

Too similar to the other one?

The point of No Escape is to prevent stairdancing - if you can Rod of Recall out or otherwise escape the instance, it isn't doing a really good job of preventing players from abusing game mechanics to enter, leave, and re-enter an instance as they wish. It would probably be a good idea if all the i's were dotted and t's crossed so having some form of insurance to make the challenge 'an actual challenge' is a good idea.

That said, I don't think this is a good idea to ensure players don't abuse the mechanic - I once had an Occasion in my Let's Plays (Look specifically after 23 minutes in my video for the instance) where in Sandworm Tunnels the Sandworm Queen spawned outside or ended up outside of the initial rooms. The only way I could get to it was to Blindside to it; which soon after led to that specific character drowning in sand. I'm sure other instances of this being either annoying or extremely detrimental could happen too.

[Nagyhal]

Vancian
Each level of every zone grants you 10 uses of every tier 1 talent, 5 of every tier 2 talent, 3 of every tier 3 talent and 2 of every tier 4 talent or above.
Death Race
Progressively more difficult enemies constantly spawn and come looking for you on each zone (with a dimishing returns on XP per zone)
Maj: The Eyalening
Each turn you have only a random choice of 7 activate-able abilities, which are shuffled back into the "deck" as you use them. Lower tier talents will appear in greater frequency than higher tier talents, as will those will a greater level investment. Talents that put other talents on cooldown will instead add extra talents into your "hand".