Yes, a barley wine can be a trying event if you do not know want you're getting into. I tried a imperial stout when I first started brewing (similar strength to a barley wine) and it was a cluster f***. I'd make sure to get your brewing practices down (especially in regard to yeast) before you end up dumping $50+ worth of ingredients like I did. Here are some tips:
1. Pitch a huge starter. I'm talking 4 liter+ for a lot of these beers. If you do not have this capability, using 2-3 packs of US-05, or US-04 would be a good place to start.
2. Aerate more than you normally would. High gravity wort has a tougher time getting oxygen into solution. Count on doing twice what you normally would.
3. Do all grain mashed low (148-149) and long (90 minutes +) to ensure a very fermentable wort. You can supplement with extract to get your gravity up there. I wouldn't do a beer like this with 100% extract because in my experience it is simply not fermentable enough to hit a low terminal gravity.
4. Use simple sugars (ie table sugar) for up to 10% of your fermentables. I like to hold this out of the initial fermentation and then slowly add them as the fermentation slows. This allows the yeast to work on the big malt sugars first and then finish up with something easy.
5. Watch your fermentation temps. Ferment cool (mid-60s) to start during the yeast growth phases and slowly ramp up to 70 or so at the end to get it to finish out. This will help keep the beer from get too harsh and solventy.
6. Be prepared for carbonation issues. If bottle conditioning, pitch fresh yeast at bottling time.
7. Watch the amount of crystal malt you use (I'd keep it less than 5%). With that much gravity there will be plenty of residual sweetness without added too much crystal. You want to focus on making the most fermentable wort you possibly can.
8. Use a blowoff tube....high gravity worts tends to go crazy and clog up airlocks.