Long-term Design Questions Best Answered Before 5.0

[Brightamethyst]

I want to know what, if anything, SE will be doing to introduce a new healer that isn't a copy of WHM + SCH + gimmick (like AST is)

I'm not sure how realistic that is. The gimmick (cards, pets, etc) is really the important part here. Healing itself is pretty binary. You either heal the damage after it happens (cures, regens) or you prevent it from happening in the first place (shields, damage reductions.) There isn't really a third option. The non-direct healing part of the play style is really the only way to make a new class different.

[Elamys]

Healing itself is pretty binary.

This is true, but there's way to make those classes feel and play differently by the way their abilities interact with each other. I wish people wouldn't complain about the cards as a gimmick, but right now, the actual healing portion of AST is pretty much the exact same as WHM. WoW did a great job having all their healers play and feel different.