In wow, there were raid locks. You ran with a static group all the time. Because you had a guild in wow, your guild maintained that static group and you raided together. Also in FFXI, you had a linkshell, your linkshell went to end game together. So yes people are use to static groups. Also in wow the raid locks worked the same way. Once you killed a boss you couldn't go back and do it again. Also after the ICC release in wotlk you could join other peoples raids but only to progress forward. E.g. if your lock had down 4 bosses their lock had to have the same 4 bosses or more down for you to join it. Prior to the ICC release your lock was private and you could not join another raid period until it reset the following weak.

Pugging a raid would just suck, straight out. If you don't have the time for a static group, then pug it. But if you want serious progression, yes you need a static group. It's the norm in my opinion, and I'm sure other people feel the same, which is why no one is complaining about it.

Shoot, I have static groups for AK, Castrum, WP, Behemoth, Odin etc. We have 3 linkshells with some cross members in it, all level 50 and we also run stuff from the same pool of people never really use the Duty Finder unless we need 1 dps or something.