You've hit max level.  You're run the raids and the instances.  You have your gear.  But it looks like a few months or more to go before they put in anything new.  Do you quit? Or is there something that might still hold your interest?

Here are some things that keep me busy and still entertained after I hit "the wall":

1.  Hanging out with buddies.

2.  Player housing and player cities.

3.  Making alts.

4.  Achievement systems.

5.  In game events.

6.  Getting more skills/abilities/alternative advancement.

7.  Exploring and checking out stuff I missed on the way up.

8. Collecting (pets, mounts, etc).

9. Grinding coin for use when they finally do put in more stuff.  

Of course not all games deliver on the game system options above, in which case I usually get bored and quit.  But when they are decently implemeted I normally stay.  

In that kid of a game I run the instances / raids once or twice then quit, even if i don't get the "gear". The gear grind at endgame is stupid, i'd rather grind for anything else but gear, after all this time i know that gear ain't there to stay, that the next piece of content would make my gear "old". I'd rather grind for active/passive skills and perks (such as, the game gives me the normal version of the skill, the endgame is designed to make me grind for the elite version, which adds let's say a condition to the normal skill, making it "elite"), extra stats which i can select where/how to use, some special crafted item(s). I'm totally not into housing, pets and mounts.

So let me rephrase, i quit, unless there are some very good alternative advancement lines, events and / or minigames, good and meaningful crafting systems, other stuff to do except "daily quests" waiting for the weekly raids with guild / friends.

Friends/Community/Guild

A Well-executed Crafting system (I love crafting), and not some eye-bleeding grind for crap items.

Extremely challenging zones for exploration (I used to spend hours wandering through "Elite Monster" zones in Dark Age of Camelot farming "glowies" for salvaging or just to give away to friends)

DECENT-- and I mean DECENT as in quality, well-executed-- PvP (or RvR) system

Well-executed content updates

GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE!  I know, I know.  Depending on the community, some a**hole ruins it for everyone else by burning the good folks out, but how is that any different from a retail job?  Every customer should expect good customer service until they prove themselves to be unreasonable and the situation unresolvable.  If I'm treated with disdain or immaturity from some shut-in that managed to squeak by the hiring staff, only so he/she could turn on anyone that disrupts his/her personal game time while on the job, then first I'll let a supervisor know, and if I receive a form letter explaining how the company always strives to offer "the best" service, I'm f***ing out of there and spending my money elsewhere.

NOT some B.S. "Free-To-Play" scam.  I'll gladly pay a subscription for a GOOD MMO as long as they're not trying to milk cash out of me for stupid items or items that should already be intrinsic to a MMO system.  Cash shops can kiss my a**, and so can the companies that offer them.

Community

Horizontal progression

Doing the stuff I missed

Making alts

PvP

The first option is spoiled if the game has too much vertical progression, though.

do instances/raids for achievements :3

craft for gold

in-game events

guildie fun time!

I honestly haven't played a lot of MMOs. The only one I've ever played extensively was WoW, and played that for a couple years. I've dabbled in a few f2p games, but never enough to get anywhere near end game content.

As for what I did when I played WoW... I didn't really participate in any end game stuff. I didn't do raids until after they weren't new anymore. I'd run old world/bc raids for fun. I two manned Kara once with an old friend. I did manage to get into ICC toward the end of Wrath, but only because the main tank was a friend of mine. My DPS was terrible, so I tended to avoid things like that.

End game stuff never really interested me. I played on an RP server, so I was there for the RP and to collect mounts and pets. Thats pretty much all I care about in any game I play. I always look for something I can potentially RP in or collect random items in. Honestly, like 99% of my time in WoW was spent just hanging out in one of the cities or off soloing some random instance to get some rare mount or pet. I'm sure that sounds really boring for a lot of people, but to me it was awesome and loads of fun.

If the PvP is any good, I stick with it. But if not, I usually go through the endgame content once and thats it: I quit. If there is replay value I might roll out an alt.

I don't play games that are not interesting to me - not fun anymore. No amount of peer pressure will make me stick around and I am not fond of grind (gear, achievements or any other form). I've grown out of playing with virtual dollhouse and exploring a dead static world is not fun. There is rarely anything worthwhile to find.

Community and in game "functions".

I may be a hamster but i need a LOT of wheels if you want me to keep busy. Im a hyper hypo (mike meyers)

In EQ2 it is housing, events, the community, alts.

I don't do 'end game' though... I don't raid. It's just 'game' to me. That way I have fun from Level 1.

i never cared for end game in mmos. I reach level cap and i switch to other character. The game has to have different paths per race (lore and starting areas) and different maps of the same level range to avoid doing the same quests at the same hubs over and over with all new characters. (WoW and GW2 offer variety in leveling maps which is good,  more variety would be even better). So yeah, that is how i play mmos. My end game is when i stop playing, like the name implies.

That is what keep me playing after level cap. Varied content to start new characters. Each race with its own story behind it

EDIT: also, since i dont rush to level cap, by the time i reach level cap with some of my characters that would be enough time for devs to add new high level content to keep going up and new areas and expand the lore

Played WoW for almost six years and managed to thoroughly burn out on the grind. So these days, I mix up my activities.

I don't strive for endgame or sign up for raids but often end up in them as a fill-in. I roll alts if there is something new to be seen, craft for alts and guildies, explore, fish, but all that goes out the window if there's housing. Housing is my endgame if it's available, and these days I'm looking for games with housing in them.

Originally posted by MMOGamer71
MMO's should not have endgame.

Wouldn't that be nice!