Like I've been trying to say, this isn't the issue for me. It seems likely that operatives are underpowered, but I'd expect that issue to be resolved eventually. I want to know if the operative's energy mechanic - which prevents them from being able to handle intensive healing situations for more than a few seconds - will force Bioware to design boring, predictable fights (from a healer's perspective).

This is debatable at best, but let's say for the sake of argument that you're right. Can you make an interesting fight that challenges your 2 ops healers without being impossible? How interesting will that same fight be for two sorc healers?

Good posts, but I'm still wondering what people think about my original question(s) (which I probably didn't ask very clearly). Let's assume that our spells get appropriately buffed so that our healing done over a 10 minute fight is in line with sorcs. Without a change to our energy mechanic, we still won't be capable of ramping up our healing during high-intensity moments (ok, maybe once every two minutes but even then only for a few extra seconds). Let's also assume that Bioware designs their raid content with this in mind. They have to make fights with either no "oh ****!" moments, or they have to make the "oh ****!" moments last only a few seconds and occur only once every two minutes. That sounds boring to me, but I want to know if I'm off-base with that opinion or in the reasoning that led to that opinion.

Just re-read your post and yes, I think we've had the same experiences with operative healing. Another way to phrase what I'm asking is: Is it fun to heal steady, predictable damage? Will it (if it's not fun) significantly affect the long-term popularity of operations in SWtOR?

I think we're closer in our thinking than you realize. The rest of the post is me trying to explain that while I don't feel that operative healing is overpowered or underpowered in general, it seems difficult from a design standpoint to make a fight that challenges a skilled operative healer without making it impossible. You've figure out how to maintain respectable hps, but even flawless decision-making is only going to raise that ceiling by (made-up small number alert) ~10%. Unless the designer is able to hit that 8-9% "hps-above-average" range, the fight will either be easy or impossible for you. In either case, it's uninteresting.

Two questions: 1. Are challenging healing fights a requirement for the long-term popularity of SWtOR operations? 2. Is it possible to design a fight that challenges a well-geared, well-played operative. Before you misunderstand - I am NOT saying that operative healing is awesome-sauce overpowered. Also not claiming that it's underpowered. What I'm asking with the second question is, basically, "Is the skill cap too low on operative healing?" What I love about healing is the ability to be a hero. In WoW I had my mana-neutral healing style that I used 80-90% of the time which was kinda fun, but what really got my blood pumping was when I had to kick it into mana-intensive mode. Spamming inefficient heals to prevent a wipe, getting dangerously close to oom, frantically calling for an innervate from my druid friend... exhilarating. In SWtOR, I feel forced into the mana-neutral style 100% of the time. Mana-intensive mode means I cast 4-5 spells and then get 0 hps for up to 10 seconds. I can do my job, but I feel like I'm sitting in the back saying, "I'm doing my thing guys, but if you screw up we're gonna wipe and there isn't anything I can do about it." I feel like a healing bot with a hps cap. So if you work at Bioware and you're designing an operation fight, it seems like you can't implement a healing-intensive phase that lasts more than a few seconds. Unless you just say screw the operative healers (which I'm pretty sure they won't). Am I right? And is this a big problem?

If you think that healing is automated in WoW, then you have little to no understanding of what it's like to heal in WoW.

I've been healing 8-man operations lately and will estimate that I switch targets about once every 4 seconds (a lot more during combat, a lot less out of combat). This amounts to over 2500 unnecessary clicks in a 3-hour raid. I've been healing in MMOs for years and now that I'm getting a little older, my fingers actually hurt after one of these sessions. I have to click a mouse for my job and notice the next day if I do a lot of swtor healing the night before. I try not to worry or think about the effect all my MMO playing might have on the long-term health of my fingers, but cutting out 2500+ clicks a night can only help.