1. New town, new cottages.
2. The original developers stated their intent was to revisit some old powers with the new Absorb mechanic, particularly powers that logically would have been Absorb powers when first implemented had that been available. Their first target was Blaster secondaries for obvious reasons, but IIRC Force Fields and Ice sets were explicitly mentioned as likely.
3. This changes a power that accepts heal, range, recharge, and endredux enhancements into one that... also accepts heal, range, recharge, and endredux enhancements. The functionality, use-case, etc are all virtually identical; they just fit better with the current environment. I don't think this is a cottage situation.
Well, fair enough.
I still don't think the +MaxHP should be removed. Just reduce it to the point that with ~95% Heal enhancement it'll cap Blaster HP, so it doesn't go to waste.