The only reason why I'd have names is to make a quicker decision between letting a good dps and a bad dps die. :)

As for numbers, I agree. It gives you an idea of how much to heal, whether they're a dps by health pool so you can judge whether they need immediate attention, etc. I only do missing health cuz it's too many numbers to see current + Max together.

And IMO, numbers are a must, not personal preference.

I don't see why you wouldn't have names. As a druid, names are essential if you plan on keeping hots on tanks (or just keeping an eye on them in general). Like disd said, they could also be used to heal better dps. But in a raid that will almost certainly have more than 1 of a class, I feel that having names just to remind you who the tanks are is essential (at least for me).

Instead of the display of names, try placing the tanks on a fixed position. Healbot can do this automaticly when the tanks are marked in the raid screen (every raid leader that does this without asking get's bonus heals), not sure if Grid does this also, but can't imagine it doesn't. This way you don't have to know the name of the tank, because they are always at the 'tankslot' in your setup.

Using classcolors is usually enough to determine who are the good/bad dps although in 25m-raids I have to admit it is sometimes hard to determine which of the 3 mages was the good one again, but in 10m-raids this is usually not a problem.

Becs

I disagree, names are essential. "Incinerate Flesh on ", for example. OK great, if you have every single debuff set up with warning icons in advance but what about new content, or revisiting old content and you can't remember which icons mean which debuff?

or for other random things

i use grid a lot for my druid - but i leave it on on my main mage

lady DW - i sheep the 3rd MC listed by dbm on 25hc
lich king - if somone getting grabbed looks like being dropped i slow fall them (if theyre one that can escape) - gives more time to disengage/charge/etc
queen - i know who im suposed to be biting - but which of the 4 green squares are they?
etc etc

Spoken as someone who's obviously never played a druid. Need to battle rez someone? Innervate? You pretty much need the names.

I had one time where my names were hidden with Grid when the person was dead. it just said "Dead" and no name. I was asked (while tanking, during a pause in fighting Akil'zon) to battle rez the druid healer. He wasn't he only one who was dead, but if I rezzed him, he could rez the other dead person.

I need to innervate someone who asks for it on vent? In a 25-man raid? I need names, I'm not going to take the time to /tar name and figure out if they're within range of me, I'm just going to click on their name in Grid and see if I can cast it on them without moving.

Raid Leader: use special ability on !

The 4 letter abbreviations and class coloring is enough, but not knowing either one of those would leave me looking for group numbers and clicking through them all