The later zones and expansions did a much better job of making standard leveling questlines interesting. The vanilla zones are full of "hero we are short on fur! Bring us bear fur!" types of things. Zoned added later like Before the Shadow (Cardolan), Yondershire, and later expansions add more story to those kinds of quests. A lot of them tie together into mini arcs, where they lead to more complex plots and even many mini solo instances.
Still not for everyone. I'd encourage anyone who was bored by the run of the mill quests years ago to try it again and stick to newer leveling zones. It's a much more interesting experience.
