Questing

Any reason there is quests in this game? What do they do? Is there specific armor drops that are prevelent? How do I close the quest check box that takes up 1/4th of my screen?

 

t for tasks

 

you can open the quest journal with 'J' by default.. if you look at the 'current tasks' tab - and right click the title of the quest, you can select 'show/hide task on HUD'

 

't for tasks' isn't option added yet and yes I can hide the quests but there still is the dreaded 9 Tasks in Journal UI that blows up my party bars

 

Quests are there to tell you the story of the game. Good exp can be earned by doing the quests - so yes.
What do they do? - Not sure what you mean by this... you complete them and earn exp and rewards.. they aren't necessary to earn exp though, you can just hunt and adventure.
There are a lot of different components that can drop as loot, but generally the armor you wear will be crafted and then enhanced.. artifacts are drops and are used as equipment.
Quest box - I don't believe it can disabled completely - but the individual requests can be not tracked.

Hope this helps.

 

What resolution are you playing on? 800x600 or lower?