Must be willing to commit...

So, I enjoy endgame in MMOs.  It's usually pretty fun, and running group content that's entertaining is a good time.  If the group happens to be a bunch of people you enjoy spending in-game time with, that's a bonus.

Unfortunately, being successful at challenging endgame content takes time and effort.  Just like improving your skill with an instrument, there's an investment/reward element.  You seek outside help, you get critiques, you work for it.

More after the jump.

Motivation

So, for group content in MMOs, you have to have a clear goal.  The question always boils down to "why am I here?"

In Star Trek Online, I'm generally satisfied with a simple "to blow up the bad guys."  Not asking for much there.
With World of Warcraft, I'll settle for "it's pretty here, the fights are fun, and I can smash stuff."

With Star Wars: The Old Republic, though, you have to really motivate the experience.  When you spend so much effort on a game establishing it as a story-driven MMO, you need to have a legitimate reason for grouping up to tackle a task, and for making the call to action appealing to each player.

I spent some time yesterday in the group finder tool, just hammering out flashpoints and thinking about the content I was playing through.

You're so vain...

I used to play City of Heroes.  The character creation setup gave players a HUGE amount of control over exactly how their avatars looked.  It was practically its own game...and then you could use the characters in the real content!

I liked that.  Being able to customize how you appear in-game is a wonderful option, even if it's just fluff.  It's easy to write it off as "my current gear looks stupid as hell, and I don't want to look at it anymore," but for a lot of us, it's something more...