Most effective healing is tied into elite specs and thus you will need to be level 80 to begin unlocking them, anyway. Elite specs with commonly found healing oriented specs are: Druid (ranger), Herald + Renegade (Revenant), Firebrand (guardian), Scrapper (engineer), Scourge (necromancer), Tempest (elementalist). Healers are EliteUsing some exp boosters (birthday boosters are great for alts!), it took me maybe 4-6 hours to hit 80 on a fresh character. This was before mounts and varied a bit depending on the availability of reliable swiftness or +25% speed passives for the class. And that's including me learning the class as I go.
Mastery points can be earned prior to level 80, but points can only be spent at level 80 Masteries, Mastery Tracks and Mastery Points are divided into 2 separate categories: one for Central Tyria and one for the Heart of Maguuma , each leveled up through earning experience in the respective region
m5ZesT.