Probably.
Though I think what some have pointed out is probably true.
My VoN3 groups these days usually have no deaths, my first VoN3 group ever had a bunch of deaths and we didn't even finish the quest.
People who, for lack of a better word, "trailblaze" are probably going to be looking at a number of deaths significantly above the average.
Maybe the item damage penalty could be reduced or removed if you were getting your "first time" bonus (for any level of difficulty, cause sometimes elite can be a very different quest than normal)?