Great question. I've been designing logos for 12 years so I have a good sense of what's important:
1. Amazing fonts. This is the low-hanging fruit, and the core of every logo. Some logos are just nice fonts :P
2. Brainstorming and idea exploration. Logojoy is cool because it gets you thinking, and makes it a joy (haha) to explore different fonts, symbols, colors, etc.
3. Presentation. If you look at how the top agencies present logos to clients, it's always with a ton of whitespace, real-life mockups, etc.