1. I'd advise a pre-made group but I think you'll be fine either way.. you might wanna clarify when you start the op that it's your 1st time because even on story mode there are some areas which can cause a wipe if done incorrectly (thinking about alarm droids in KPs after Fabricator when someone rushes into room) so it's ideal if the other players know they need to set themselves to your pace. You could probably get a group via general chat as they are sometimes formed for the 10 BH comms daily by veteran players. Eternity Vault is really, really easy on story mode though, and if you have the general know-how from reading online guides then you'll be fine using GF but u risk getting grouped with people who aren't as prepared as you. 2. Length wise.. hm an experienced group with 0 wipes is gonna do this 40 mins maybe? Correct me if I'm wrong, fellahs. Might wanna do this when u have 1, maybe 2, hours to spare. My guild usually sets aside 4 hours for raids when we anticipate wiping a bit. 3. Not really, especially not for Groupfinder but it's not unwise to get Teamspeak so you can at least listen if your group prefers voice-chatting. Typing out instructions / trying to call out some event in the boss fight via chat is rather ineffective in comparison.

If you mean PvP then yeah both can pump out similar dps but for PvE then Sent / Mara dps is greater + they have a buff that gives you & your entire party +15% dmg & healing for a while so people go for these for the dps, and their defensive cooldowns in pvp are fun

Never seen 'em as quest rewards but GTN & drops yeah

Their DPS is among the most sought after 'cus it's high & they get group buffs that are highly appreciated as well

Seen lots of guardians dpsing at lv 50 so it's viable either for PvP or PvE, depending on what you fancy Personally prefer focus, but seen lv 50 vigilance dudes do good work, in PvE that is.

If I feel someone was an obvious contribution to the team then I'll give them my vote

You might personally take a DPS reduction but I think if you're guarding one of the better DPS, like a sentinel or pyrotech, then the overall DPS of your team is increased.. plus it's handy to use on healers who start getting focused.. I'd probably use guard if I was a Guardian but I went sentinel & I love being guarded

I can't claim to be an expert on Jedi Guardians but the highest DPS numbers I've seen from Juggs and Guardians have been from those using the Focus/Rage tree rather than the middle one. If you're comparing your numbers to Guardians / Juggs who're using a similar build to yours then I'd think expertise would be the main factor.

I agree with OP as well. I'll always try to work for the team and even if the team's poor then I'll just try to adjust my game to it, maybe try some solo-plays that have paid off in the past. However if it's gone to the point where it's just plain boring. I'm fine with winning or losing but not boring.

As far as I know then there are only timers on the HM bosses when you're doing flashpoints. For operations then it's both story mode & hard mode, someone correct me if I'm mistaken.

/signed