Ghostcrawler made a comment last week telling us about what future encounters and healing specifically will probably be like in the next expansion - Cataclysm.  Here’s the quote:

Ghostcrawler:
“I predict health pools of all players will go way up in Cataclysm relative to player damage and healing. Everything (meaning PvP too) would be slowed down just a little so that making the right choice would sometimes trump making the fast choice. “

This is good news, in my opinion.  If you read the entire thread, you can see some more of Ghostcrawler’s reasoning.  Currently, if you put 3 healers on a tank, its not because the tank requires that much heals per second to stay up.  The reason there are 3 healers is because you’re hoping that at least one of the heals will land between two of the bosses big hits so that the tank doesn’t die from the second hit.  In other words, many of the heals are actually overheals, which is okay because mana isn’t too much of an issue now.

It sounds like Blizzard wants to change this so that healers heal more intelligently and less spammy in Cataclysm.  The focus will be on choosing the correct heal rather than just healing as fast and as much as possible.  The skill in healing will come more from decision making and less from twitch ability.  Mana will be even more important.

I really like the idea of slower fights, smaller heals, and tanks with more health.  Healers will have the ability to throw those big heals if they need to (probably because someone messed up), but it will be at the cost of a great deal of mana.  Healing will be less about playing whack-a-mole and pumping out as much heals as possible as quickly as possible and more about making meaningful decisions and following our designated roles.  You’ll need 3 healers dedicated to the tank simply because the tank is taking that much damage.  You’ll have more time to use your abilities in coordination with others, switch roles to where you’re needed, and go longer without needing to heal, rather than madly spamming your buttons on the people with the lowest health.  The skill will come more from the mind, strategy and the coordination of your raid and less from reflex ability.

I’m really excited about Cataclysm, both experiencing the game with my Holy Paladin and trying out the new races, classes, and content.  I think Blizzard has been learning with each new expansion and certainly each one has been better than the last so far and I’m sure Cataclysm will be no exception.