As of today, July 4 2007. This quest is still bugged, I used the blade on the altar then nothing happened. GM responded that it is a known issue, and they are looking into it.

Don't waste your time on this quest, its so far away from the nearest FP not to mention you have to swim out, its not worth trying at all.

Just wondering, why the hack Bliz don't just put a warning next to the quest name or something, so that ppl like myself won't waste absolutely hours, and went into trouble to look for group members... then finally found it is bugged?!?! Wake up Bliz, if you couldn't fix it yet, a warning is the least you should do.