good post. i just recently switched over from thm to con (both are r50) because i really feel con plays a larger role in battles now, especially with aoe cures, raise II and rebirth. that, and it's hard to find a good, smart healer who always keeps buffs and stoneskin up. as a healer, you really need to be aware of what everyone in your group is doing, and that sort of motherly/overseeing playstyle currently appeals to me greatly. i was honestly getting tired of dotting mobs to death as a thm.

here are some playstyles i implement in battles to help alleviate overall enmity generation for healers:

chameleon - i use it when i know i'm going to go blinky red with a cure.
accomplice --> chameleon - my team mates and party members use this on our healers when we start to draw aggro.
bounce enmity - having two healers allows you to spread the enmity thinner, as you can take turns healing. all you have to do is call out yellow/red and have the other take over.
out of sight - always have this trait on.

i don't personally think the system is out of whack; the whole "cure = damage" enmity-wise seems to be fair enough. a cure should not, at the beginning of a battle, pull all hate, but as someone before mentioned, roaming soul + sacrifice should be a staple before any large battle. i rarely go blinky red, if at all, anymore (a large shout out to my team mates who help with this by either mitigating inbound damage or by doing crazy damage output). it took some adjustments and there was a short learning curve, but to me, healing is a lot more engaging and entertaining, especially because there is now an associated danger affixed to the task. should i curaga ii this shizz and risk pulling all hate, or do i cure iii // sac ii only those who really need it? can i take that risk? can i do it without anyone dying?

encouraging this sort of thought process while actively playing, to me, promotes smarter gameplay. i'm glad SE is finally getting around to implementing things that address that.

all in all it's so much more fun now, and i really have to pay attention to how much damage everyone is doing and what's really going on, rather than siphon mp --> all and spam aoe cure-bombs all over the place.