SWTOR

 I'm sitting at about 25% of the way through level 49, on my march to level 50.  Even though I've been playing MMO's since City of Heroes, this will mark the first time I've ever actually taken a toon to the level cap in a game.  I've been playing WoW since launch, and still don't have a maxed out toon there - but I will qualify that - I played for about 3 months, then gave it up because it was consuming me in a bad way.  From time to time, I'll dust off the sub and play around for a weekend, but I've never let it draw me completely back in.

Now, I'm playing SWTOR.  I'm playing it a lot, but really, I don't feel that quasi-addiction I had with WoW.  I'm just having a very good time with the game.  So, knocking on the door of 50, I have a couple options.  Roll another toon, get all the datacrons I've missed along the way, or start getting into endgame content.  Here's the kicker, I'm not a grouper.  I haven't been since the early days of WoW, and even though I've played many MMO's over the years, I always avoiding grouping.  Mostly, it was due to my erratic play schedule - I didn't want to get into a group that I felt I could trust, then abandon the game for a few months and come back to find they've all blown way past me and thus, having to find another group of fair players.  In SWTOR, I've grouped all of three times on the march to 50.  I figure that I'm not in a position to raid with my guild as my gear is terribly underpowered compared to the drops people have been getting from heroics.  I'm going to have to go outside my comfort zone and learn how to be a group player.  It will be a long journey.  Hopefully, along the way, I won't piss off too many people or get gkicked for being an ignorant ass.  

I did group the other night.  One of the guys from my guild was looking for a group, so I joined up.  I'd give myself a 'C' grade for that instance.  I was late to the instance and thought my team had advaned further - however, as I blew into the instance, I aggro'd a hell of a lot of angry elites, who proceeded to kick our asses.  I took my mea culpa's, and then we began anew.  We didn't have a tank, so they asked me to tank.  The other 3 would freeze a target, and I'd start battle.  However, once the heals started, aggro would be drawn to our healer, who would proceed to run away, so I couldn't use many of my abilities on the move.  Along the way, I did end up aggro'ing the wrong guy because I was being led all over the fight.  Fine, took my mea culpa on that one, even though I felt the healer shouldn't have run in circles and let me use some higher power attacks to try to draw aggro.  We did make it through the mission, and aside from those two gaffes, I did okay.  The team weren't jerks to me or anything, and were razzing the healer for running more than me for my earlier issues.  

Not real sure about my approach for getting into end game content.  Do I roll another toon and concentrate on grouping and pvp to learn the ropes more, or just put a statement out to the guild that I'm ready, but should be on a "minor league" basis while I cut my teeth?  I certainly don't want to mis-represent myself and be a severely weak link in a very uptight raiding party, but also want to really drive my main to be pretty damn awesome.