I'm posting this hoping that it will be read, and hopefully will improve the outlook on WHM's in the game overall.
I have heard and seen some utterly amazing things come outta chat from other WHM's, that just do not do anything but hurt the view of a great healer job.
There should be almost no need to need Ballad 1-2 minutes into a fight, and here is how.
Regen is a great primary heal, it's a HoT, so it's easy on tanks to hold enmity, it also lets those little melee swings against a tank be essentially ignored, all the while, healing more efficiently over time than cure bombing.
If a tank drops below about 600 or so hp below max, then just use cure 1. Try to save cure 2 for clutch and/or freecure procs.
While neither Medica is not something to spam, Medica 2 can be used after a party-wide attack to fire and forget, since it adds a regen effect on everyone it hits. If everyone is in clutch (right after hard-more Titan heart phase for example) you can follow up with a quick Medica 1 to give breathing room again.
Cure 3, while being great in concept, I have found to be less useful than Medica 2 even, except as a clutch heal -only- when one has an Overcure proc.
Shroud of Saints is our friend. It's a great, fairly short CD enmity dump/refresh. Watch enmity gauges, please, and use shroud if you're at orange or full enmity. If you're low mp, use shroud before screaming for Ballad, please!
If you consider the above statements, you should be able to keep your mp at effective levels even without ballad, while still being able to heal any content you're geared for.
Regarding WHM's enmity, all our healing -amounts- generate it. AoE heals = more enmity, because more healed. If you can get away with smaller cures over time, you will not be pulling enmity as easily, because tanks will be able to build faster than you. Overhealing still counts for enmity, as well, so please watch how much each of your healing spells cure for, both crit and non-crit, and try to consider such before casting a cure bomb on a DD/tank.
I know it is a pain, but level THM for Swiftcast, too. Raise w/ swiftcast, or a Medica 2, is so very useful.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and have fun!