I was on one of my baby toons yesterday, and since it's been so long since I quested, the one thing i noticed was there was no exp. I noticed this on step 5 of 6 of Scout quest. At that point, i was so tired of running around and my exp bar not moving, that i was about to abandon the quest when someone advised that 6 was the last step.

A lot of the newer games have realized the tedium of drawing out any reward until the very end of a quest line.

Could we look at quest chains and break up the exp? If it's a simple go talk to this person and it's one short teleport away, give a minimum amount of exp. (say 100). At the step that involves more distance and hazard (say you are lvl 10 and it involves getting past lvl 13-15 mobs to reach the destination that triggers completion) give more significant exp. That way, you feel more determined to continue since you are tangibly rewarded along each step of the chain.