So are quests ruled out?

As in events that offer loot or gems. Has it been ruled out? I haven't heard anything about that in a while

Why don't you look at the sticky where ruled out ideas are posted?

Actually, the devs have stated on more than one occasion that they like the idea.

They don't make quick jumps with such huge additions to the game though.

I suspect that our big update for 2015 will be quests.