About Leveling

When I play MMORPG's, I strongly prefer the JMMORPG way of doing things. (Loads of grinding, etc.) I had initially quit BnS because I found the quests to be pretty boring/cookie cutter. But after seeing one of the tournaments, and a few character models, I redownloaded. What I'm wondering is, do you absolutely have to quest in this game? even if it's slower, are there other methods of leveling?