It's a bad time to start, but it IS your last chance to see the one-time content.

My advice to you would be to

- find a new-player friendly linkshell, there should be at least one recruiting in your world. Check the forums and shout in Uldah for it.
- create parties for levequests! This is accomplished pretty easily by using the new player search function. Just make sure you ask nice in your /tells.
- Get to 50 in one job as quickly as possible. My recommendation would be WHM/CNJ, since it's always needed and you don't need crazy gear for it to be useful. I always see shouts for WHM's in Uldah.
- Getting to 50 is easy, you don't even need to be PL'd. Just do light/full parties in levequests until you hit 40. At 40, you want to join a Natalan EXP party. Natalan gives crazy awesome EXP to a good full party, and you can get to 50 from there in one night. It took me about a week to get THM/BLM to 50, but I had help with my LS. Outside that, I was organizing my own parties.
- By the time you hit 30 you'll want to start doing quests for a Grand Company so you can obtain your Chocobo (sorry, you missed out on the free Goobbue if you don't have it already). Having a friend help you teleport around and run Toto-Rak with you.


The one-time content you really should take part in is the Grand Company quests and the Primal Fights. When you have a job at 50, most of it just requires a good Full Party. The rest of the game's content is passable, and/or will be returning in 2.0. You have a month and a half or so to complete this! Good luck!