I was talking about this with the other healers today and what we saw our individual roles as and how it plays out.
The paladin is constantly at the top of the meters. They say they are tank and preemptive healer, but have very little options in the way of emergency cooldowns for the group. They say they are great for keeping things in a good place but are not so hot when things start to turn south. A disc priest sort of feels the same way about their class but thinks they have a few more options than the paladin for the group as a whole.
Holy priest says they are the jack of all trades. No matter what they seem to find a roll. They never top the meters but they are constantly in the middle, no matter what fight we're at.
We don't have monks or druids usually, and when we do I don't really value their input on healing a lot... (not that great of healers)
I play a shaman. I'm generally not top, but I feel when things start to get bad we're the best people to have. Our mastery feeds off damaged people and we have some of the best cooldowns in the game. Healing tide is huge in a lot of fights and spirit link used correctly can be the best tank saver available (dropping it so it hits melee and tanks and running in to help soak damage). I see us as the ultimate triage class right now. We're great for progression and learning fights, but when things are going smoothly we seem very meh on the meters.
What is your take on our role as opposed to other healers?