Unfortunately for new people, most people do not grind through the leveling process anymore. The game is nearly 5 years old. People that are rolling alts don't want to go through it again..they want their new toon ready to RvR as soon as possible, so most of the old world in DAoC is empty outside of the classic servers. For some classes it is actually faster leveling solo in these dungeons (b/c the reward for completing them is set, so the faster you do them, the better) b/c the more people in the group, the harder the mobs become, so it can actually make the reward for killing higher level mobs not worth the time it takes to complete the missions.
There are two types of instanced zones, the Taskmaster zones, which your only reward (except for levels 1-10 which I think still drop some armor) is cash and xp. There are also true instanced zones which reward you with aurulite (great for getting solid armor, weapons and jewelry) and cash, and have a final named mob that drops a high quality named item that is usually pretty good. You can find these aurulite instanced zones inside the old world dungeons or in catacombs itself. The taskmaster ID's are faster in getting levels, but often leave you with having no gear to continue. the aurulite ID's give you cash, decent xp and some aurulite to buy better gear, so it is a trade-off if you want to level quicker or level while acquiring the means to upgrade as you level (very important for tanks, not as important for casters).
As for quests, any NPC you see with a yellow circle around it has a quest for you (appropriate for your level). you can find these NPC's in your home city (Jordheim), towns with mobs near them that are close to your level, or in the beginnings of the dungeons in catacombs (Kobold Undercity). You can enter any of the catacombs areas and you should see plenty of NPC's with these yellow circles around them. Just talk to them and get the quests. Some are as simple as "delivering supplies", which really just means find another NPC and talk to them. The entrance to catacombs is inside Jordheim, in the upper left corner of the map (not sure if Jordheim is upside down like the other home cities..it should be NW corner, but possibly is SE corner if that home city is upside down also)
This site has great guides on almost every quest, so completing them is not much of an issue.
Edited, Jun 13th 2006 at 12:42pm EST by thuri