I'll hunt for an amazing post from the o-boards later.
If by 'end-game' you mean raiding and whatnot, I really think its a good idea to do everything in sequence.
(1) grind the main instances for rep and heroic keys (shattered halls, shadow labs, sethek halls, mech, botannica, etc..)
(2) grind heroic instances for better gear and maybe 1-2 to exalted (ie: the exalted reward from honor hold is a really nice
affliction blade with high spell damage). Don't worry though, you dont need exalted with many (if any) factions. I'm working on that sword myself, but I wouldnt say its a requirement. In fact I'd be trading a fair amount of stam (~30) for more spell damage (~30).
(3) start raiding kara
I could find a list, but I bet if you ran every instance to revered and did the relevant quests for those instances, you should be quite well geared to move onto heroics. Quest along the way for gold, to get enchants on whatnot.
edit: Here's the post - http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=102916695&sid=1
Edited, May 16th 2007 10:57am by mikelolol Edited, May 16th 2007 10:57am by mikelolol Edited, May 16th 2007 11:02am by mikelolol