i agree on some parts with OP.
I would rather grind in a party then grind through exp quest. Juat played yesterday AION with some friends and the only thing you do is accept 1000 quest in a city run out of city do what is needed for quest and run back to get your gold and exp rewards. At least it is all i have done from lvl 1-20.
Thats why i like FFxiv quest more. they are about the story and lore and not about click through text as fast as possible and do the quest for exp.

On the other hand its nice to have several options so some bigger quest could be added with good exp rewards (i mean quest out of storyline and companies).