Lets Disect what the healers are getting and see where some issues might be

[Eloah]

Yeah I know another thread. But I wanted to make this as a new one instead of burying it in another one under so many pages. (please note I am a SCH main so that is where my expertise lies)

Okay so the big thing is the healers DPS kits have gone to hell. Nerfs like Holy aren't part of the issue since that is streamlining, but lets look at what each healer gets.
WHM

SCH

AST


Okay so Lets look at their DPS first, since that is the biggest issue. To start each Healer gets 1 DoT, 1 Single Target, and 1 AoE spell; WHM: Dia, Glare, Holy, SCH: Biolysis (stupid name), Broil 3, Art of War (another dumb name), AST: Combust 3, Malefic 4, Gravity. Now how do they stack up, well:

Dia is an instant cast 120 potency spell with 600 potency damage over 30 seconds, so 720 potency total. Where as Biolysis is 600 potency over 30 seconds and Combust 3 is 500 potency over 30 seconds both are instant cast. All 3 cost 400MP.

Glare is 300 potency, Broil 3 280 potency, and Malefic 250. All cost 400MP with a cast of 2.5 seconds

Holy is 140 potency, cost 600MP and has a cast time of 2.5 seconds; it also has the additional effect of Stun, but its a point blank spell. Art of war is 150 potency, cost 800MP, and is instant cast, and is also point blank. Gravity is 130 potency, cost 700MP but is a ranged spell.

From the looks of it WHM is winning hands down with the DPS. They have a 720 potency DoT, 300 potency spell, and a 140 potency AoE that, while point blank Stuns the enemy so as to prevent interrupts. SCH I guess is second since they have a 600 potency DoT a 280 potency spell, and an AoE that is 150 potency and instant cast. But its point blank? AST would be last with only a 600 potency DoT, 250 spell, and a 130 AoE, that at least is ranged.

But lets look at their other DPS options:

WHM still has Assize for a 400 potency attack every 45s. They also get the new Blood Lily spell worth 900 potency
AST still has the cards, so that semi counts, they also still have Earthly Star worth 100-150 potency every 60 seconds.
SCH has Ruin 2, 200 instant cast spell...WHAT? I'm not saying it didnt have a use but why didnt this just become a new spell entirely if you wanted to "erase" Arcanist from SCH.

In the Extra department SCH is severely lacking, they have a niche spell that, while stronger, wont see much more use than it has previously.

Okay so what about Heals, the Healers claim to fame, well:

WHM still has their old kit but got 2 new instant heal spells using their lilies, not so bad all things considered. they also got a buff for 20% increased healing, also nice.

SCH still has the weakest first tier heal, but they got a fairy, so okay I guess. They finally got another use for the Fey Gauge in an AoE heal, but why is it given so late, just why; you adjusted a bunch of other skills why not that gauge ones too. They also got the Seraph who has stronger shields and heals, so yay. But why is Dissipation still a thing. Dissipation orders the fairy away, but your heals rely on her, not to mention the 20% boost only effects your 3 Spells, nothing else, your entire kit is the fricken fairy so why is killing her still an option. Sure let me sacrifice 80% of my kit so I can get a 20% bonus in healing, which doesn't even increase Physick to 500 potency. Also why does SCH need more Aetherflow when they dont have a sink anymore, what does SE think Energy Drain was, a fashion statement; could you maybe make Ruin 2 the sink. We also got Recitation to hold onto Aetherflow, but the goal is to use them to gain MP back, was SE asleep from 2.0-4.0?

And AST, not sure what to say, the Cards are boring. People liked the Bole, they liked the Arrow, now its all boring. Neutral Sect is nice, but really that name, what is with SE and all there bad names; why not Dissection, Bisection, Eclipse Sect, like anything would be better. I mean you got it right with Celestial Intersection. I cant say much here, mostly because, besides the cards, nothing really changed, which is good an bad.

Seriously SE what were you thinking. You tried to fix some issues that weren't even there. and why does WHM still have no Raid Utility, is the Blood Lily skill supposed to be that, poor showmanship.

And while I'm at it. WHY DOES PHYSICK STILL SUCK ON SMN!!!!!

[althenawhm]

WHM still has their old kit but got 2 new instant heal spells using their lilies, not so bad all things considered. they also got a buff for 20% increased healing, also nice.

No, getting Divine Seal taken and turned into a role action skill, then removed entirely just to be sold back to us at level 80 is not nice.

[IttyBitty]

WHM gets instant cast GCD skills. Important distinction.

[Urthdigger]

Yeah, WHM really didn't get as much love as one may think with their changes. Their new heals are still on the GCD which means their sole benefit is that they are free (Not that we have MP issues anymore) and allow mobility (Which... fair, that helps a little bit). They don't let us heal faster in "oh crap" situations or allow us to DPS more.

On that note, Misery can't really be regarded as a 900 potency attack: It costs 4 GCDs to use it, which is a loss compared to just spamming Glare. Now, granted, those GCDs can take the place of when we'd be spending a GCD to heal anyway, so in that regard it's a LITTLE bit good as a rebate on spending GCDs healing. Speaking of which, since we didn't get any improvements in regards to our lack of oGCD heals, WHM may not even be the best at personal DPS since they'll need to spend more GCDs healing than any other healer.

Lastly, that 20% potency buff to heals is a slap to the face. We lost Largesse which did the same amount at level 40, to only get it back at 80 (So no using it during big pulls during leveling dungeons) and since it's combined with a damage reduction it has a longer cooldown attached.

[Dyvid]

Out of all three healers, AST felt like it had an actually gameplay design with cards. It's healing design though was lacking as it was more of a filler in cause you were paired with either a SCH or WHM. SE screwed up big time here because they really didn't sit down and think about healing and think about how to make each job feel uniquely different from each other. Missed opportunity here unless they break from the norm and do massive change in a patch.

Healing should have been divided into the 3 groups we have; Direct, Mitigation, Restoration. All three would work in tandem no matter the setup.
WHM is Direct with Cure spells that do straight heals.
SCH is Mitigation that blocks damage while their partner restores health.
AST should be Restoration with focus on Healing over Time.

Next you have to decide on DPS, Buffing, and Debuff. How much do you want to focus on each one. Clearly the community wants Healers to have some form of Raid Utility as well as some form of DPS options This is where you need to move the needle between DPSing and Buffing. You can have a straight DPS with limited utility and on the other end you have a straight Buffer/Debuffer with limited DPS options.
SCH would be the logically choice for DPS since Shield give them time to cast.
WHM would be a mix of direct DPS casting and direct Buff/debuff spells.
AST would be the Buffer/Debuffer with limited DPS options

Now you have to focus on playstyle. Each needs to be different from each other and we can already decide on how.
WHM is a direct spell caster so play into that. It also has a nature them too it so you could use Lilies as a resources to cast DPS spells like Quake (Earth) and Tornado (Aero) for dps, and Berserk (Direct DPS) and Curse (Lower Target DPS).

SCH has Fairy and Books so that would be the focus. Books or Stratagems would focus on flipping the pages between Healing and DPS; stance dancing. Libra Stratagem would increase Shield Strength or lower target defense. Chain Stratagem would either spread you two DoTs; Bio and Virus or Spread your Shields. Then the last would Stratagem would switch between nuke or heal. Fairy would work similar where one is defensive in nature while the other is offensive.

AST is in a good spot from 4.0 except Balance was OP and cards would need to be reworked. I like Divination because it fixes the Balance problem. Diurnal to Nocturnal would flip the cards from buff to debuff. I would change the cards to Main Attribute buffs; MND, STR, DEX, INT but VIT would need to be Tenacity. The sixth card would be a mix of piety and skill speed. Lord would be direct Nuke and Lady would Heal over Time in Diurnal then Noct would flip Lord to direct heal and Lady DoT. Divination would be Party Wide DPS buff in Diurnal then Noct would flip to AoE Target DPS down.

[DotsNnots]

No, getting Divine Seal taken and turned into a role action skill, then removed entirely just to be sold back to us at level 80 is not nice.

Don't forget stoneskin -- removed and "re-branded" as benison (from level 18ish to 66)

Gotta love that they're giving us two animation options for cure2 and medica now, too.

Totally new skills guys, nothing to see here... Ooo shiny?

[Tharne]

SCH: Biolysis (stupid name), Art of War (another dumb name)

Sorry I lost you here, Biolysis and Art of War are awesome names that fit SCH really well.

[Kabooa]

The issue is these changes require a shift in encounter design, and that's nothing to historically suggest we're going to get that.

But we'll see!

[Risvertasashi]

No, getting Divine Seal taken and turned into a role action skill, then removed entirely just to be sold back to us at level 80 is not nice.

Nerfed each time it comes back in a new iteration too.

[Deceptus]

No, getting Divine Seal taken and turned into a role action skill, then removed entirely just to be sold back to us at level 80 is not nice.

Sadly, this isn't the first time SE has taken away an ability only to give the exact same ability back later in the leveling process. (DRK Delirium comes to mind)

IMHO, it's extremely lazy design.