Leveling as a Healer is sloooow...

As a very new player, still undecided as to what main Job I want to play, do any of you have advice on what class/job would be best suited to a noob for leveling up for the first time?

Healer (conjurer) is actually one of the best. Getting parties for dungeons is quite easy, and you can use those for leveling if you grow tired of FATEs.

I lvled archer because its really basic and easy as long as you know how to participate in raids and not piss people off by aggroing mobs before the tank. Healer i find levels super fast after you hit 15 due to the 20 sec max DF wait. DPS is nice and fun, but the DF waits are hellish. But yeah, Id say archer/Bard is the easiest.

i knew by the end of Beta 3 that i wanted to go BRD & WHM.
and i ended up kicking myself for leveling in that order.

1. the story quests give you sooo much experience to where, minus a few spots in your 40s, you never really need to Fate grind.
2. Fate grinding it much easier as a (ranged) dps.
3. in order to level your 2nd, 3rd, etc class Fate grinding is just about mandatory.
4. DF Q's are much easier as a tank/healer. especially considering all of the stories from new ppl in my FC who are starting out and realizing not many ppl are running the lower dungeons. (2.1 should help with that though)
5. tanks are and will always be needed.
6. but the bottom line is level whatever you like really. as stated above your initial class will zoom by, but after that.....

Of the classes, I would recommend conjurer or archer for a player still new to MMOs.

Conjurers are actually fairly slow to level early on, until you get cleric stance at lvl8. After that, it does become easier as you're able to quickly kill and heal without downtime between fights. Its job at lvl30, White mage is the easier of the two healing jobs for new players. WHM is more reactionary so you don't have to focus as much on learning the boss' attack rotations. That said, some players do find WHM healing boring, and learning mp management and aggro management are the milestones for good white mage healing.

Archers have a very fast paced run and gun style while solo-ing. And later, when they become bards, they are able to regenerate the party's mp and tp supplies. This makes them very desirable as dps in dungeons. The problem is you have to socialize with other players on the server to pre-make groups. If you can party with a tank or healer before queuing up, it helps reduce time spent waiting for a dungeon.

I found CNJ to be one of the fastest and easiest classes to level via fates. Just tab cycle through enemies and tag everything with aero. Instant gold at any level. And that is without being in a fate party.

I find that leveling in dungeons is the same for most classes.

But open world leveling just by monster killing, cnj is one of the slowest classes to level. So if this is what you are trying to do, that is your problem.

I would alternate quests, fates, and hunting log on conjurer in between dungeons. Once you hit dungeons, run each dungeon about 4 times alternating with quests and hunting log. There are 3 dungeons every 10 levels, so this works out to 2 levels via hunting log, 3-4 levels via dungeon, 2-3 levels via main story quests, and the remainder via fates. (I save most side quests for secondary classes).

By alternating you aren't getting bored, and by using dungeons you are getting needed experience practicing your role as healer. You can easily level from 1 to at least 46 in about 4 weeks this way, at 3 hours a day. (46 to 50 can be a grind for every class, especially 49-50).

If you do fates more you can do this even faster, but then you lose the experience you need for running group instances so I really really don't recommend it.

CNJ/WHM is quick to level - I forgot myself because of this and was lv43 when I first met Titan. Which kinda made it hard, as I synched so much my hotbar was pointless - Ha!

Anyhoo, as queues are quick as Healer, I just registered, and ran around doing Hunting log inbetween dungeons, leves and guilds.
Oh, and I adventured...I ran (well before my first mount) all over the place...discovering locations, doing optional quests.
I am now lv48 and still messing about in the story-line circa lv37....I am trying to catch up now tho.

Healer levelling....dungeons, dungeons, dungeons....leves, leves....dungeons, dungeons, dungeons.......I love dungeons!
:)