I don't really quest anymore, if I can help it. I know it's not a popular opinion, but I don't really care for questing. I leveled my first character almost exclusively by questing as, for some reason, I had this notion that I needed to. I thought that questing would reveal some important lessons for me, other than how certain basilisks are inexplicably lacking in vital internal organs. I also incorrectly thought that you had to finish off a zone before you started the next one.

And boy, I was disappointed with questing. Everywhere I went, there was an incursion of some troublesome pest, and I needed to collect 12 monkey brains from largely brainless monkeys before I could get down to the business of actually just slaying the head honcho of whatever group was causing the problems. I began to stop reading the quests and just checking what I had to get then getting it. The "objectives" panel told me all I needed to know. I didn't care that your sister was under attack and needed certain plants to ward off evil spirits; I just went and got three scarceweed.

I was chatting with WoW Insider Lore guru Anne Stickney in one of our late-evening/early-morning Campfire sessions, and she seemed surprised, even somewhat upset, that I see questing as the last resort when it comes to leveling. She worried that I was missing out on the story and persuaded me to give it another go in the Mists beta.

But my chat with Anne got me wondering. Do you quest around reading every story about how a ship crashed and you need to get nine crystals? Do you immerse yourself in the questing dialog, or do you just grab the items, kill the mobs and move on? Do you ever read the bottom half of a quest story?