I finally made level 12 myself and hate the slowness up to that point! I only do the collection quests if the reward is good equipment for my team or I may take it for just my main to get just a bit ahead on XP of my team (holding aggro, etc). One thing I found out during the last couple of days is if I go to new areas (even if they are a bit higher level) there is usually one or two quests on a bulleting board thingy where you have to kill some high level MOB and the XP is good and the equipment is WAY better than what your level usually should be able to use. If the quest is available to you then you can equip the rewards!

So, I basically move to as many different locations as I can. Right now I can't wait to get a couple of more levels so I can start doing instances.