Consider this a checklist of things to consider. Not everything here will work for everyone. But much of it will work well for most people.
Rewards in DDO boil down to 3 things: XP, Loot, and Favor. Always shoot for getting all three. Don't do XP runs to level up, and favor runs to get some other goal later... Get them both along with some good loot in every quest you run. Use the quest chart (under the star icon, hereafter called the "star chart") to track what you have already done. Never redo a quest at the same or lower difficulty unless it is particularly fun for you.
Play a Cleric. The demand for Clerics is very high, as they make it easier for all other classes to succeed. If you play a Cleric, you will be able to spend less of your rare game time looking for groups. And, in most cases you will be able to control what quests the group will do, allowing you to avoid repeating quests that you have already done.
Don't go for the bonus XP such as "conquest" or "ransack" unless it is really easy. In one hour, you might be able to run 4 quests quickly and without bonuses for a total of 10,000 XP. But if you take the time to get the bonuses, you might get more XP per quest, but only complete 3 quests in the same hour for a total of 9,000 XP. And you will have less loot and favor too. Break every box or barrel you see while running through the quest though. It takes no time, and most of the time will add up to a 10% increase.
Always do quests on the maximum difficulty that can be *safely* accomplished by your party. The bonuses from doing quests on high difficulty (or doing higher level quests than you can handle) are very tempting. But you lose far more in one failure than you will make up in the bonuses of several hard quests.
Build or join parties with your level as the minimum, and your level + 3 as the maximum. Getting the most out of limited play time means accomplishing goals as quickly as possible. What your party can accomplish, and how fast, depends on the total ability of the party. Putting a couple of higher level players next to you does more to help you succeed than having that uber weapon you keep hoping to pull.
Don't be afraid of 10% or 20% penalties for doing a quest that is a little below the group level. You can literally run some quests 2 or 3 times as fast when you are a little above level. So, even though you take a small penalty in XP per quest, you more than make up for it by being able to run more quests in less time.
Don't be afraid of the 50% "power level" XP nerf on longer of higher level quests. The 50% penalty only applies to the base XP for the quest. So, if you have made it to level 10, one option would be to do all of the level 9 quests that take an hour to finish and give 1500 to 3000 XP. For a casual player, it might take a month or more to level up using this method. Or, you could build a level 10 to 14 party that includes a couple of good level 14 players, and then do Madstone Crater on normal, hard, and elite difficulties. The base XP of Madstone Crater is around 15,000 XP. You will get a conquest bonus without any extra effort most of the time, which is about 3250 XP. You will get a first time bonus of either 3250 or 6500 depending on difficulty. And you will get a few other bonuses as you complete it. So, even with the 50% penalty, you will be getting over 15,000 XP on normal and hard, and over 18,000 XP on elite. Continue this with other Gianthold quests and you will soon level up to where you are no longer taking a penalty.
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