As the systems is pretty complicated, your questions is definitely not a "noob" question. First of all, you have to be able to accept the Normal-Mode Flashpoint quest. Most Flashpoints require you to talk to a Flashpoint NPC who then sends you to another NPC with a prequest. This step has to be done once.. Afterwards "just" abandon the Normal-Mode Flashpoint Quest and you should in most cases be able to talk to the Flashpoint NPC directly in front of the Flashpoint entrance. This NPC should then give you the option to start the Flashpoint in [Normal] or [Hard] or cancel. Everyone in your party has to have the Hard Mode Quest to enter or they will receive an error. In some cases the party leader will also have to reset instance progress. [EDIT] You don't have to complete the flashpoints in normal mode!

Well, my "Hard"-Flashpoint group is doing 4-5 instances almost every night (Black Talon, False Emperor, Battle for Illum, Boarding Party, 7). Our usual setup is: Sorc (heal), Powertech (tank), Merc + Marauder. Guess what, most items + tokens we get are for agents. Medium armor with cunning.. awesome! And seriously I'm talking about 75% of the items. My Mako has more epic (PVE) items then my character. Lucky for us that we can cover most slots with PVP items to beat the enrage timers etc. And yeah, please merge the crystals with the commendations.. who the hell came up with the crystals idea anyways?

Well, actually I already invested some time into my character too and do not want to start a new toon on another server. Especially as those other servers are also already under Heavy load...