Not All Hitpoints are Created Equal

There is always question on whether the output of healing meters (healing charts) can be used in indicating a healer's performance. Unlike points of damage, where heals go matters. While everyone has use for a heal, some players will need it more than others.
 Healing meters (such as the 'Healing done' component of Recount) collect raw figures from the combat log. It becomes easy to assert, from skimming over the healing chart, that all hitpoints (HP) are created equal, with all players appreciating 1 HP of healing equally. However, I would not.

1. Factoring in absorptions
When a player inevitably takes damage, a healer can respond to it in any of two ways:

1. Let the player take the damage, then heal it off.
2. Cast an absorbing buff (e.g. Power Word: Shield) to mitigate it.

As the combat log technically considers 2. as an absorption rather than a heal, healing meters may not recognise it! This is despite that both are effectually the same. It can therefore be argued that damage taken that is absorbed should be included in the healing chart. However, it can further be argued that, considering absorptions are more convenient than heals, 1 HP of absorption should be worth more than 1 HP healed. After all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

2. Tanks and Raid members
Tanks, as according to their responsibilities, take damage on behalf of the rest of the raid. This means the former will be taking much more damage than the latter. It can be argued that a tank will appreciate 1 HP of healing more than an ordinary raid member will (at the same HP level).

3. Low health and High health
For as long as a player has at least 1 HP of health, they will survive. However, the higher their health is, the more damage they can take before dying. It becomes desirable to maintain as high health as possible, to ward off this undesirable outcome. It can be argued that a player on low health will appreciate 1 HP of healing more than the same player on high health will.

4. Factoring in dispels
Some boss encounters feature dispellable debuffs that are best dispelled (e.g. Hodir's Freeze). However, for a healer to cast a dispel, they would need to give up casting a heal in its place. This would likely lower their healing done, since the dispel spell may not immediately restore any lost HP. Foresight would reveal that the dispel can be worth more than a heal in its place (N.B. Biting Cold).

A beam balance with masses.

Weighting the numbers
One way to consider each of the above is by multiplying each and every HP healed/absorbed by a certain number. The higher this factor, the more the HP in question is valued and the heavier its weight in the overall healing chart. The following can be considered when doing this (N.B. opportunity cost):

1. Absorbing 1 HP will be less fussy than healing 1 HP. It should be worth the amount of HP healed that will cause the amount of fuss saved.
2. Ask how much healing the average raid member will be able to forgo for the tank to receive one point of healing.
3. Ask how much future healing that the person would want to forgo to receive one point of healing now.
4. A dispel should be worth the amount of damage it will prevent.

Some basic conditions
Weighting (or even healing charts in general) would be meaningful if:

• There are no enforced healing assignments. These restrict each healers' decision making and prevent heals from going to where it is believed to be most needed.
• The encounter is not under progression. Learning the encounter is another burden on a healer's decision making and will interfere with their healing decisions.

Doing this, the weighted healing chart will reflect how useful the heals actually are to the raid group, and therefore how good the healer was in allocating them.