MMO's need to go back to basics or something, cause the max lvl 'raid only' model is a very shallow concept, and it forces you to play with loads of other people if you want to experience the higher lvl content. The fundamental gameplay mechanics of World of Warcraft, for example, are built around working with other people -- the mechanics are limited in such a way that soloing is usually impossible, or extremely inefficient if it is possible to solo (Heroic elites in World of Warcraft, for example.)
Once you've gotten some epics at max lvl in WoW, done most of the quests, or atleast the interesting ones, then there's not much else to do -- besides raiding, which turns into a chore very, very fast, and the rewards will only make you slightly more powerful.
But for what? To ease the progress into the next raid tier, but I think a lot of people raid because they want the epics for the status. Whether or not a player is aware of his personal motivations for raiding isn't the issue, but the need to be special and get recognition, especially among peers, is part of human nature, so it's not a huge leap.
And since you eventually become part of a community (With peers, and also many other 'classes' of people, like the real world; it has its very own society.) in WoW, the basic gameplay facts don't really matter anymore, since it has hooked you with such a powerful psychological incentive. But when observed from a distance, the max level gameplay is boring and pointless.
Clothes are a big deal in real world society, cause, people in general think they indicate a persons wealth and success. Of course, they can also indicate or state many more things about an individual, and how they want to be judged.
Most people think that the clothes you wear will change how people perceive, or even treat you to varying degrees - The correlation between money and good clothes is obvious (Expensive.). However, there are many more styles/statements that are commonly known that you can sport nowadays.
So, perhaps epics are like clothes. Vanity items, items to signify your stature!
A couple of years before WoW, MMORPG's like Asheron's Call offered extreme amounts of gameplay; you could choose which skills to raise out of hundred(s) and shape your character however you wanted.
The very best players could solo raid content pretty much, or 8 person (Fellowship.) dungeons.
It required lots of practice of course, but that's the point; games that reward the amount of time you play/practice with some sort of significant "gameplay reward" like getting a new ability, or points to put into an attribute like strength are extremely satisfying. Of course, this 'mechanic' is present in most games in some form or another, but usually somewhat dilluted. (Ie; Uncharted type of game where you basically play through a story.)
Games have been dilluted, or streamlined to the point where the 'you give (practice), game rewards' aspect is hardly noticeable anymore, but it's still an extremely important part of gaming, even if most games nowadays are so streamlined that they effectively 'hide' that fact. Without this mechanic, gaming wouldn't be gaming anymore; it'd lose out on what makes it so different from movies, books or even music; a sense of mastery of a particular game.
People may feel a sense of mastery with movies as well, but that typically won't extend beyond the static facts/trivia of the movie; it'll typically be related to the mastery of memory, or knowledge.
But games let you interact, shape the world, and continually improve; usually to be prepared for other players who might challenge you - similar to how, for example, mastery of a movie would merely extend to, for example, something like; a couple of "moviefans" might argue over the reason for why/what/when in a movie, while gamers might fight to determine who's best. Out of the 2 scenarios (Movie discussion, gaming match.), I think the gaming match is many times more rewarding for the winner, cause it's a practical, 'physical', obvious event, whereas a discussion will be much more theoretical, and also because it's pretty much impossible to rank arguments as fact, so.. even the winner might be wrong.