I know that there are some people I have played with that like to go grind and worry about quests when they want to get an item. This is not the way to play this game!
Many of the quests give a nice ammount of exp. as well as coin and other rewards. Grab a quest that involves killing a certain ammount of monsters and you get exp for killing them as well as exp for doing the quest.
I know this is common knowlege to most of you but last night I grouped with some people and when I asked them what quest they were working on the said, "None, just grinding for exp."
While this was the way to go in EQ live, EQ2 is totally geared twards questing. For example: say you are in a group killing orc pawns or scouts for exp. All you have to do is talk to one NPC and he gives you a quest to kill six of them and BAM you are gaining a ton more exp for your work.
Good luck and I hope to see you in game!
currently lvl 12 sorcerer unrest server.