Just going throw my 2cents out there but I think the auto-healing mechanic is a good solution in some games but not for DOS and here is why:
Scanario: You just won a battle and your warrior is at 50% health, your AI companion took big damage and is at 20% health, 15+metres away from the party leader and the battlefield is still covered in fire, poison etc. If you apply the auto-healing principle here then it mitigates the immediate danger of battlefield damage from the terrain/traps and gives you more chance to survive by being careless. What is potentially annoying is if the AI companion starts path finding to get back into formation and kills itself via a trap or from terrain damage, which should definitely be a consideration by the devs and how the 'chained together' mechanic works post combat.
I agree that the healing aspect post combat is tedious and annoying but they will likely keep it that way because of the scenario above and the fact that after you win a battle you shouldn't breathe a big sigh of relief because you could die straight after. Auto-healing in this case would mean you are likely to let your guard down and the game should have the right to punish you for that.
It's a necessary evil I think and although I hate waiting to heal my party it does make me more careful in how to proceed with out of combat movement as if I had a tank I could just steam roll through the battlefield and keep going and undermine any immediate danger.
I don't disagree with auto-healing entirely but it's not as simple as that, so if the devs can come up with a creative way to incorporate it then I'd be happy to see what they come up with.
