Pallies suck right now if you want to raid. I have done kara on my pally some, and while the raid members were nice and friendly, it's just goddamn boring. Healing is the most unfulfilling role ever with a pally, and could easily be done by making a /tar tank /cast flash of light macro and putting one of those bobbing birds on the key like homer simpson did in the episode where he got even fatter to work from home. I won't judge the other healing classes, because they might be fun to play as a healer. But compared to playing my warlock in raids (also boring, but that was pre-BC so things may be a lot more fun/interesting now) my pally is a goddamn snorefest. I don't do anything different than in 5 mans, I just press the heal hotkey a little more often. 5 mans are annoying as shit now too, but it's just because I've hit the boiling point. I guess I'm kind of lucky in that I only need around 1k more HP on my tank gear and I can go prot. But not every pally's got the gear I have (nearly all blues, but still, some rare drops and extremely lucky circumstances to get them) and it's just stupid how the only viable raid role (to 99% of guilds out there especially) you have is pressing one of two heal keys. I think other healers at least have some versatility in their healing roles, so they could do more than be almost literally a healbot.
Blizzard just needs to redesign the class from the ****ing base and make it so its new focus is 1) tank, 2) melee dps, 3) healer. I don't care if they remove the bubble or anything like that, they need to go back and redesign the class. It even makes more sense when you look at their spells: pallies have, bar none, the most limited healing capabilities (all single target heals) yet blizzard basically designed them to be healers/support. They don't have a group heal, don't have a heal over time, don't have any real shield/protective spell (don't say BoP, it's got a 3-5 minute cooldown) and in general they suck. All they have going for them is efficiency, which will probably get nerfed soon to suit Priest forum trolls (not a bash on priest players, just the whiny tards that make the WoW forums a cesspool). The whole healer/support focus is probably because, at the time, they were all "well we have to make them competitive with the shaman since horde has them and they're better" (this was years ago in OG beta, when shamans really were awesome, until like the week before release), so they just gave pallies a few shitty shaman ripoffs, and then when they made pallies the way superior support/healer than shamans, they gave shamans shitty pally ripoffs.
Anyway, stupid WoW history lesson aside, pally buffing is actually one of the few good things about the class. They still need to increase the duration on all pally buffs (30 for regular, 60 for greater) just so it's not a headache/money sink buffing a raid, but that part of the class is largely fine. It even fits with what a paladin's typically about in other RPGs. But they need to make them much more capable tanks, and also provide a genuine dps/buffing role in groups/raids. Technically, with good gear you can dps and be good at it. But it's seriously strictly a pvp/solo build, because it can pull tons of threat, with bubble/BoP being the only way to shake aggro (kind of like vanish, I guess, but rogues at least also get feint). And talking about something as a pvp build in WoW is seriously lollerific. Despite what the hardcore 15 year olds on pvp servers will say, the game's pvp is a joke of a tacked-on mode, and basing a build around how effective it is in pvp isn't really worth it, unless you're doing it temporarily to get arena gear to upgrade your blues/take the place of raid epics you won't see.
as shitty as the shaman is now in pvp with its complete lack of any way to deal with CC at all, at least in pve the trees are generally well balanced so they do their roles and still provide support/buffs. Which is exactly what ret should do (melee dps that actually helps out other classes too, and not just that shitty sanctified judgement talent) and prot spec should be on the same level as druids/warriors. It's ok for instances (even heroics) and probably ok as an OT for raids, but requires shitloads better gear than your average warrior does. I'm still really close to being able to tank, and when I have the gear for it, I'm doing it. Personally, I don't give a shit if I don't have a slot in kara or gruul's lair or whatever (until they buff pally tanks to be genuine capable MTs), because I wouldn't do those for purples that will either make me heal better, or I'll never see because they'll always go to some asshat's warrior alt or something.
I'm hoping age of conan goes away from the whole fighter/healer/damage dealer trio and just removes the healer from the equation. That's seriously the next direction MMOs need to go, because the whole healer/buffer role is not fun for 90% of players and honestly it doesn't fit nearly any player's idea of a fun class to make. I don't think anyone picks up an RPG and gets excited at the prospect of healing people. WoW even sold itself by saying "our healer classes do more than heal," though that's a dirty, dirty lie when it comes to raids (unless you're a priest/druid). It works in pnp RPGs because you're with the same people in the room, so they have more courtesy. Also pnp worlds tend not to be set around game rules like "ok we're fighting a dragon, our cleric needs to keep casting his cure serious wounds spell over and over again" like MMOs. It works in single player RPGs because you're either healing yourself, or you're controlling a party, so having characters in specialized roles like that is fun because you're controlling the damage dealers, tanks, etc. AND the healer.
The alternative is they just straight-up rip off the d&d cleric for a healer in any future MMORPGs, and essentially give you a class that can heal, but has so much flexibility and so many useful spells beyond just filling up your book with heals, that being a pure healer is actually detrimental to your character.
Despite all my bitching, there is a small amount of fun in being a healer in these games. But it's only in the sense of keeping people alive/saving them from the brink of death. The role would be a lot more tolerable if there wasn't the whole "I'm using the internet! I can be an asshole because nobody can come over to my house and beat the shit out of me!" attitude that invariably happens at some point or another (pugs, large raid guilds, people who don't know you well, etc.) but even from its core design, the whole support/healer class in MMORPGs just doesn't work well if you ask me. The most fun I've ever had playing a healer/buffer in any MMO or other RPG has been a hybrid, where they get to do more than just heal. That's supposed to be what pallies are, but in truth they're just a healbot in plate at 70. Or, I suppose more accurately, when they're in a group.
Healing's the most thankless job, the most important job, and the least entertaining job in MMORPGs. That's why the next gen of MMOs needs to get rid of that shit. Spread out your buffs across every class (WoW's good at part of that at least) and replace healers with mashing healing potions like diablo for all I care. I just know from now on I'm going to avoid any MMO as long as the class descriptions include "primarily a healer/buffer" for one class. It's like MMO developers don't get that what makes a d&d cleric fun isn't casting cure light wounds, it's being able to do a lot of different stuff beyond cure light wounds, but having that as a backup for when your party needs some hit points.
