i put it on autofire when teaming with newbies in hollows set follow on one of them and roam around the forums....apart from that in no other situation i use heal aura on auto...
I prefer not to for much the same reason, although I can see the advantages.
I like to move around a fair bit, I use fly through most fights (slotted hover if I'm attacking as well, but that's unlikely to be the case in any situation where putting healing aura on auto was a consideration) to allow me to quickly position myself where healing aura is going to do the most good at any given time. I prefer to wait a split second and fire it manually to get the most out of it. The other reason is that I don't want to suddenly find myself needing to use either heal other or AP urgently and be unable to because I'm mid way through a healing aura that's totally uneeded.
I'm a control freak, what can I say 
As I said elsewhere on this board...
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With as little offence as I can put it, but if an Empath - or Rad - starting spamming Heal Aura/Radiant Aura in my team, they'd be gone before you could say "Oooh, green light!" - or I'd leave - and have done so in the past. Spamming auto-hit auras is completely lazy and artless, not to mention annoying, in my eyes and the eyes of the players I team with. To each their own, but the best Empaths I've teamed with have been great spot-healers - and have never had occasion to spam heals, prior to or after ED.
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$.02
@Synaesthetix
"Here, take some more bees with you. You may need them."
Union: FU//LoUD
"that Syn is that that" - Mothers Love
Bar Hami raids, I have never put Healing Aura on autofire. It's just a waste of endurance...and lazy.
Odd thing...I tried to click reply to Syn's post...and it just kept timing out, but it worked fine replying to everyone else 
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Odd thing...I tried to click reply to Syn's post...and it just kept timing out, but it worked fine replying to everyone else
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Strange, but I just tried and couldn't reply to it either.
Works for me!
And there's nothing more annoying than an empath with Heal Aura on autofire. Damn them all to hell!
Well said - so bloody annoying going off all the time!
IN MEMORIUM OF GAYBABY
CRUELY TAKEN FROM THIS WORLD WHILE SO YOUNG
I found that once I got into the higher level range, I rarely even use Healing Aura any more - it gets to a point where there is generally only one team member at a time taking damage anyway, and Heal Other is better for the purpose. Aura is handy at low levels, but becomes almost redundant past about L40...for me, anyway 
EDITED: I stand by what I have said, but having read the other (looong) thread about Empathy defenders on this board, I will add that I have hardly brought Doc Green out to play at all since June. So post-I6 experience of healing is very limited for me I can understand the reasoning behind spamming Aura, but I would still rather leave Hasten on autofire, and manually control Heal Other and Healing Aura...
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And there's nothing more annoying than an empath with Heal Aura on autofire. Damn them all to hell!
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Yes there is. It should be legal to shoot thermal corrupters with their AoE heal on auto in the eyes with a nail gun.
It would be for their own good in the long run.
Dead Calm's Defender Manifesto
lol! That would be the violently bright green flame effect, I take it? I have to agree that it is faaaar more annoying than the relatively 'quiet' (graphically speaking) empath's Healing Aura...
As posted by myself in another thread where this discussion started up:
As far as the whole healing aura thing, I'm horribly annoyed by it being on auto myself - and yes, it IS the noise and animation, which in an already busy battlefield just results in extra graphics which can make things a mess for those of us with not-so-great graphics cards. Worse by far are the new Thermal Corruptor graphics - I love them, but when someone has that on auto, combined with new maps like the Arachnos lab, and MM pets... doesn't seem to matter HOW low I turn my settings anymore. >_< But back on topic...
Part of the reason I've never liked using heal aura on auto myself, aside from not wanting green glowyness around me every few seconds, is that the last thing I want to happen is need to fire off a life-or-death heal, only to find I'm mid-way through a heal aura, and can't do it. Also, I tend not to be close enough to most people on the team for it to make a difference. That might be more to do with who I team with, but it's very rare that I'm on a team with a number of squishies standing together. More often than not, I'd only be hitting myself with that aura... big waste, in my eyes, especially since I don't have Stamina, and I have nothing in my build I'd drop to get it. Also, I tend to use even my aura to spot-heal, by rushing into the fight, dropping it on whoever needs it, then getting away. (I use three-slotted hover, and often stay just above the fight for this purpose.) It works as a nice interim heal if I've had to use heal other and AP already, or the situation isn't safe enough to use AP. I'd much rather, since I use it in such a manner, choose when it goes off, rather than needing to rush down in time for it to auto-fire, or risk not having it ready at a crucial moment.
Sure, it's hectic doing all that and keeping everyone buffed, but I've never had an issue doing so. Probably helps that I don't attack at all.
As has been previously stated, there is another thread on here that contains all the arguments for and against spamming the HA.
As probably the person who started the debate on the other thread I'll pop a post in here, but keep it brief.
I've been doing it since I6 and ED. Why ?
Well the healing aura is now so small in it's heal points I feel it's not much more useful than as a 'tick-over' heal and frankly if it wasn't on auto then I'd rarely use it except as a desperate last measure when I don't have HO or AP to use.
I've thus far NEVER come across an ocassion where the Heal Aura has prevented me from spot healing. The activation time is far too brief to cause any real problem.
The Endurance drain issue is not a problem since ED as I have Stamina and pretty much all my powers have an End Red in. *shrug*. I could spam heals and use powers all day and never run out of End.
Also some people have said that they hate seeing the Aura go off every few seconds. I'll respectfully state here then that you are probably teamed with a lazy healer. The powers queue up just like any others, and if I'm in the middle of performing spot heals and buffs the HA just queues up to activate in the next free spot. I can't say that it triggers more than once every 20 secs or so.
In fact so far since I've been doing it, NONE of the teams I've done it on seem to have noticed I'm spamming it at all. Or at least no-ones ever mentioned it. And that includes doing the 2nd Shadow Shard TF on Sunday for 8 hours.
As Knightingale I'm a 'front line' healer. I use a combination of Hover and Temp Inv to stay right in the thick of the actio and alongside the troops. Thus the Heal Aura more or less hits most of the team everytime it goes off. Very often I've actually found that it can be the difference between life and death. (Much like the much maligned Regeneration Aura, which I also find invaluable!)
As I said in the other thread, I see it as a way of automating part of my job which in turn makes me more efficient and gives more time to focus on spot heals and buffing. Frankly that makes me a better healer and keeps my teams alive longer.
If you want more on this I suggest you take a gander at the other thread.
At the end of the day it's down to play style. If you ever team with me and don't like it just say and I'll turn it off. Your bad if it gets you killed. But I'll bet you any money you wouldn't even notice it's on.
the only time you notice people spamming heals is if they are being lazy and using that as a shortcut to PROPERLY manageing a team. In that case you are more than justified in booting them off the team. 
Blueside Level 50's.... Knightingale (Def), Rogue Elevenex (Blast), Lady Rogue (Scrap), Mr Infinity (Tank), Miss Infinity (Troller), Knight.Shade (WS), Knight.Bringer (PB)
Redside Level 50's... Colonel Rogue (Brute), Sergeant Domino (Stalk), F411-OUT (Dom)
Next Project: Psiryn Psi/Psi Cor Global Handle is @Knightingale
I recently met 2 empaths in a team who had Healing Aura on auto-fire. In my 48 levels of empath defending I've never ever put it on auto-fire.
Personally I feel it is a bad idea, you just know it'll be recharging when you need it.
What do you guys think about it?
G-Force