Or make it to where all the paths are ultimately necessary to get max reward.

What they really need to do in dungeons is put decent item/ingredient/gear drops on some trash mobs throughout dungeons... or otherwise set some sort of trigger points in the dungeons that requires x, y, and z to be done (in any order you wish) for the best rewards. Maybe even slightly randomize the trash in the dungeons--well, maybe not, because then you'd have SRers who got in, saw the initial spawn, realized it wasn't "Best Spawn," and drop (though the penalty might dissuade people of that some).

Yeah, you'd ultimately still have groups that were designed around clearing it as fast and efficiently as possible, because we live in a world where instant gratification is apparently the most important thing EVAR, but maybe it would change things a little bit.

EDIT: In response to the OP - the fact that you get a death penalty for being raised in the field as opposed to hitting the return button is extremely odd. When I first saw that it was that way, I was totally confused. Shouldn't it be the other way around?