I like to heal because I find groups fast. Also, its far more challenging than a facerolling, button mashing DPS class.

DPS are a dime a dozen, and the difference between an OK DPSer and great DPSer is not going to make or break a group. 

Can't say the same about a healer or tank.

I personally have never been into the healer role. Not sure why people like it. Yes it makes you feel good you can support your team, but I think in games your whole point is to kill and get points? Yeah you can get points when you heal, but in the end its n ot the same satisfaction. 

THE HEALZ I KEEP THEM COMIN. 

nothing better then saving a friend from the jaws of death.

-Join pug.

-Heal like a machine.

-Right before final boss pull quickly enter "afk bio" in group chat.

-Start Fraps

-75% chance they miss or ignore chat.

-Watch as they pull and then slowly realize that you are afk.

-Revel as panic sets in and chaos ensues.

-Snicker as everyone cusses you and each other.

-Wait for the storm to settle a bit.

-Type in group "Woah, what happened? Dood, I said I was afk."

-Stop fraps

-Finish boss with group chat probably being dead silent.

-Return to town.

-Upload Fraps.

What's not to love about being the healer?

I tried healers and I find most healers to be quite a bore.  It feels like its usually either too simple or the UI is too useless.

I enjoyed healing in WoW though because the addons really made it nice and easy to manage healing, cleansing, etc.  Unlike SWTOR where its a pain in the @$$ to tell whether that guy has your HoT or not and its impossible to tell unless you targetted them and see the buffs.

I've played a healer several times. Mostly, I like it, because I can "carry" a group. Like the whole group could be terrible, but in most games with a good healer you can clear anything (especially early game content)

Same for playing a tank too, you can carry a group aslong as your healer isnt complete derp.

Basically in holy tinity games, to play a DPS, you can be retarded. Just mash some buttons and you are fine. You get praise if you are good and the game has damage meters. Zero responsibility most of the time.

Being a tank, it's about kinda going first everywhere, you can still be retarded and just mash buttons, but there is some (mis)conception of leadership, you need to know (or at least pretend to know) what you are doing. Being a tank puts you in front of the group, in the spotlight, so you have to like that.

Being a healer, you are in the middle of the retarded DPS(=out of sight), you have to keep everyone alive, if you don't, it's a wipe. So kinda responsible role, usually gets no praise when sucessful, often gets hate when not (even if it's not their fault). So to like being a healer, you have to be self confident about your abilities, and find joy in doing things right, have some sense of responsibility. Basicaly you have to like being the "guy that gets things done but noone appreciates him".

this has been said on every page in this thread, so I'm gonna say it again.

It's fun knowing that you make or break the group. If a dps guy disconnects or dies, well the fight just takes a little longer. If the tank dies, usually the mob is close enough to death that a dpser can off-tank it while you burn it down. If the healer dies, everyone panics.

And it's nice being able to find groups pretty much 24/7

I play healers because they tend to solo more easily than other classes.  Also, in regards to mana based classes, healers tend to be least problematic when it comes to mana pools / regens when soloing.  My favorite type of class is Druid and sadly, they almost always get pigeon holed into the healer archetype although some games do give them a nice mix of magic damage and healing combined.  The Everquest I druid is still by far my most favorite class of any MMO to date.

All that being said, I am really looking foward to Guild Wars 2.  The fact that everyone will be responsible for their own healing is a breath of very fresh air.

I think it is the same type of fun as all the other classes. Essentially, every class has a spectrum of powers from which to choose in what situations in the most efficient and effective means possible. The only difference between a healer and any other class is that they focus their button pushing and clicking toward watching health bars rise, where everyone else is focused on watching mob bars go down.

In addition, many games throw a couple of extra 'you need a healer for _______________' - fill in with things like, 'stun' or 'rez' or 'super power buff #1', etc.

Recently the trend has been to let the healer achieve their role in new and exciting ways. Gone are the '99 EQ cleric: /sit, /cast complete heal, /sit. That was almost the only thing they did other than rez. Now we have melee healers, caster healers, plate wearers and cloth wearers. Healers that gain their abilities by drawing on the mob - so they finally get to like watching health bars drain for once.

And last but certainly not least - you almost always have a group.

Vanguard Disciple is just a great class to play. I hate whack a mole healers and refuse to heal if the game doesnt have defensive target. 

Because everyone else wants to DPS.  The few the proud, the Healers.  In gaming that's who we are.  Lets listen to what goes on in a Healers mind.

1. Must keep Tank alive
2. Must keep Group alive
3. Must keep Raid alive
4. No Time to heal my slef
5. Some one will notice these Adds, and come rescue me
6. Melee DPS, ignoring their role as Healer defence for 23 years.

1. Tank
2. Range DPS
3. Healer
4. Healer Defence

I'm playing healers almost exclusively for several years and through various mmorpgs.

Besides finding groups on the fly, people are usually being more friendly to healers and i don't have to take all the sh1t the DPS guys get. No one cares for my HPS as long as people stay alive, while lots of times people get upon each other about DPS although the group performs just fine. This has quite an impact on my personal gaming experience which is way more enjoyable being a healer.

Also, as a healer i don't have to mess around with stupid groups, stupid tanks or stupid DPS. Get another group in a second or let everyone die who acts like an idiot. They usually behave afterwards, it never happened to me as a healer that someone tried to votekick me.

In my raiding times i've always had my own slot on the roster.

The main reason is but that one day i got sick of playing dmg-classes because all you've come to deal with are the same-o-same scripted mobs day in and out.

Playing a healer, my part is not to deal with scripted repetition, but with actual people. Anything can happen all the time, no two runs are the same.

All this helped me to keep my interest in mmorpgs while standing around in a capital city with my warlock begging for an invite i would have quit ages ago.

Thanks all for your repplies.

Anyway, GW2 is getting rid of it. DCUO is finding a way around it (you can can still be a healer but raids and alerts can be done without one or any other class)