Perhaps what could be done for quests like that is to break them down like with the Cabal quest. One item at a time.

Right now, the xylophone quest is just one big list in the "Quest" command. And I can think of a few others like that. If it would be changed as the Cabal quest, current job to do only, perhaps it would ease the burden a little and be newbie friendly ?

Also, I think that the Demon quest from Voralian has a nice feature that could be incorporated to other quests : The mob sais something like "You're not ready yet, come back later" and this, I think, is a good way to know if you're too early for the quest (And perhaps add one when you're too late ? This way, newbies could take note that there WAS something there)