#0 - May 14, 2009, 10:53 p.m.
For me. I enjoy being able to save a raid member at those crucial moments before a wipe when all hope seems lost. I enjoy saving the raid when someone crucial dies (through either Bres or massive healing output for a short duration just long enough to down a boss).
Outside those circumstances, I like having a mostly predictable healing challenge with some slight surprises (spike, aoe, random target, etc.) but I honestly enjoy having to focus on the fight mechanics more then the healing mechanics. My job is to keep people alive, but it's nice for me when the challenge of a fight is in having to position, or time my heals, or something along that line because of fight mechanics.
Great fights that I have really enjoyed include Heigan, for having to pay attention to positioning while maintaining most heals on one target. Loethab because I only get a few seconds to heal so I have to push myself and plan ahead. Maly 2nd phase because I have to move between shields. Drakes in OS because of the portal mechanic, it creates phases in a way but it also seperates me out and forces me to either focus solely on the tank or solely on the raid for small portions of the fight (as opposed to the whole fight). Sarth because of flame walls. etc.
I enjoy movement, I enjoy having to watch for effects, and i enjoy being somewhat challenged healing but being able to focus mainly on the screen and less on the bars. If I was designing content I would make mechanics that forced players to pay attention to the fight and move around, make healing more of a bandaid for mistakes and less of a constant struggle against the boss.
Perhaps a boss that doesn't deal damage through normal attacks, only through special attacks that are avoidable or on specific timers. The players have to move, counter, interrupt, etc. and yes some damage will be taken regardless but it should be predictable so that the healers need to deal with it in a thoughtful way (maybe direct healers get a warning that player XXX is going to take a large spike, the spike won't kill him but then he takes subsequent DoT damage. Direct healers have to cast to land a heal very soon after the damage lands, and then they can either use smaller heals to deal with the dot or druids can stack hots to counter it.) This would make healing more tactical and less spammy I think, because right now damage is basically a constant on one or two people with sporadic damage on everyone else. Make it more predicatable, but less steady (more spikes, combinations and odd damaging effects) make it more avoidable. That will make encounters and healing more interesting.
Ulduar seems to be a step in the right direction, but I think overall the amount of incoming damage lessens the impact because rather then thinking about how to heal we have to spam to keep up.
