I'm not certain that even with changes to how much cures can cure that we will see Healing Magic actually take a satisfactory impact on what cures do (they certainly don't now) but perhaps on top of changing the cure formula to cure more based on that and other factors, Healing Magic skill will help with additional effects?

For example, perhaps having higher Healing Magic could result in effects such as (formulas below each for a general idea of what this could mean - these are not necessarily the formulas that should go into the game and are just present to illustrate):
  • Raised Enmity Generation / Lowered Enmity Generation while Tranquil Heart is available.
    Modifier which is multiplied (or divided when Tranquil Heart is present) against the current enmity amount generated by cures.
    Such as modifier = (Healing Magic Skill / 1000) +1
  • Reduced cast times.
    Spell casting time = 1 - (Healing Magic Skill / 2000)
  • Reduced recast times.
    Modifies the base recast (meaning that this bypasses the current 50% recast reduction cap). Base recast modifier = 1 - (Healing Magic Skill / 2000)
  • Reduced MP cost / MP return based on amount cured.
    A reduced MP cost modifier could be something like this: Current spell cost = 1 - (Healing Magic Skill / 2000).
    A MP return (like the WHM AF3 pants) could work something like Return Percentage = (Healing Magic Skill / 200)
  • Reduced Spell Interrupt Rate (Beyond what Healing Magic Skill already provides.)
    Spell Interrupt Percentage added = (Healing Magic Skill / 20)

As you can see, none of these are the common "Give everyone a rip off of Afflatus Solace" that is normally seen, without boosting the cure amounts too greatly.

Part of the reason this thread was started was to increase the usefulness of Healing Magic Skill, but I'm not sure it will be a significant enough amount to compare to other boosts that things get from skills with cure amount modifications alone, especially since coming to a good balance number with how much things cure is very difficult as is.

Alternative changes in addition to the eventual formula changes to cure amounts themselves would definitely help sway this towards the proper amount of impact the skill has on jobs that use it.