Teleportation totems and weapon unlock quests are just about the only quests most people consider a must. You certainly don't have to do any quests though. You can still do pretty much everything in the game without questing at all, albeit you're gonna have a hard time without teleportation and some weapons. If you decide to do only those quests and skip weapon upgrades, the black pearl story, and side quests, then the game is pretty much just like it is to everyone else. I like quests though. The Black Pearl quest in particular, even though its long and tedious, it shows you around the Caribbean and makes you explore places you may normally never go.