Patch 4.3. made me quit Holy Pally healing. While the writer of this article may disagree, you just spam Holy Radiance and lols.

Cataclysm made me start healing on my priest and shaman and I stopped on my pally. Not because I disliked pally healing in particular, I just didn't enjoy the class feel anymore (old style or the new one).

I came back to the game in patch 4.3, after a five months break... and ironically, my Holy Pally has sort of become my main (is my currently most geared character, at least). It's the first time I've ever tackled brand new content on a healer instead of a DPS.

Honestly, I'm having much more fun on my Holy Pally now than on any time during Wrath.

I had healed through all of Lich King and got really frustrated (to the point of taking a three month break from the game) because of how annoying healing became. I agree that it was mindless in Lich King, but making it so mana management and burst dependent only served to make it a job instead of a fun thing to do in the off time. When I returned I went for tanking roles and am infinitely more pleased.

Personally I think the whole Tank/DPS/Healer trichotomy is getting to be a tad 'over' now that you get down to it. There has to be a more engaging way divide up the responsibilities of a fight beyond cooldown and resource management among tanks and healers, and 'proper' rotation among dps.

@Putting the Elephant in a Cage

"you just spam Holy Radiance and lolsOOM"

Fixed.

Holy Radiance spam only works when groups are stacked up, and even then it will OOM you so fast your head will spin. It is NOT a sustainable healing strategy. Paladin healing remains engaging and challenging (Except on Ultraxion with Blue crystal, wherein you actually DO HoR/LoD spam with impunity).

End rant.

As for healing in general this expansion, I am disappointed with how quickly mana stopped mattering. Not discounting the possibility that I just got used to "healing smart", I distinctly remember while killing Cho'gall and Nefarian that my mana bar was a constant consideration and it's status throughout the fight was an indicator of how well the fight was going overall. I remember having to take care of my mana bar while keeping the raid alive and it was challenging.

While it's not quite back to where it was in Wrath, here in Tier 13 I once again feel as if healing is about how fast you can spam as opposed to how smart you can heal. I don't go OOM anymore unless I deliberately waste mana. I just find myself struggling to keep everyone alive.

Not sure how Blizzard could have fixed it, and I'm still enjoying healing in Cataclysm, but I wish it could be the way it was in Tier 11.

@zackwbrandon

Check out Guild Wars 2 ... they are doing away with the Holy Trinity ... I am pretty interested to see how it turns out!