I think you're missing the point maybe? I'm not sure how not being able to heal a cabal outer with mass heal would make anything more boring - nobody else can do it either, you do whatever you want, it's not like it's either do that or do nothing at all in the whole game.

Healers are good at something. Healing. Players. And all other mobs. Not being able to heal one mob, a cabal outer, doesn't make the class less attractive.

I think the real point is that the decision was made to stop healing cabal outers, I think because they recognized it really stymied anyone other than mid to high ranks from retrieving, as you wrote. Healers, and in particular empire healers, made it pretty much impossible to retrieve. That decision seems to be circumvented by the mass heal, which again, with sanctuary, seems to foil the intent.

The answer to not being able to keep an item if the only way to keep it is a healer is to get more members of those lower levels. It shouldn't be that you keep the items just because a hero healer is on and makes it virtually impossible for a retriever to retrieve.

It's just weird that heal and reju and all that was stopped, but mass heal was missed. So the question is was it missed, or was it deliberately kept? And if deliberately kept, why? Imms?