On a teams PvP server, the lack of PNP might work. Then, at least it wouldn't just be a DPS race but a question of where all classes would focus their attention between PC and NPC targets. You don't win the DPS race if we kill off your Wizards. Now your team has to hide those few remaining (shrunken) casters from our left mouse-clicks, encircling them with Ogres/Trolls like elephant calves in a herd and dedicating healers to each, otherwise we pick them off one by one. This puts the MA in jeopardy, especially if we all decide to focus him down at 15% because one of your Clerics was late in the rotation or, lom, tried to get the most out of a CHeal.
That allows for a more equal playing field, where all classes could potentially swing the fight in either direction. A DPS race in PVE would be all reward for burst damage classes and no risk other than their reputation, which wouldn't matter once they chased everyone off "their" server.
A degree of risk has to be in place for damage dealers, otherwise it devolves into casual griefing. It wouldn't be much different if priests and paladins were able to heal NPCs, causing a group or raid to wipe with a single well-timed cast of torpor or celestial. Heal classes could also then counter or undo the DPS done to a target by the opposing force, making them equally valuable.
Ex. #1: If a Cleric happens upon a Mage who is about to win a fight against Quillmane, but the Cleric greater heals old horsefeathers and then chain stuns the elemental pet(s), Mage eats a glorious death and Cleric earns a relatively easy, but still slow solo QM kill. This extends into raid territory as well.
Ex. #2: All waves of the Ring War have been defeated and a "team" awaits Narandi's spawn as another starts logging in by the river. Narandi spawns and other team begins the DPS race. But now, instead of simply trying to down Narandi ASAP, the original raid leader is calling on Clerics to switch rotation from MA to Narandi while Enchanter rune. MA happens to be SK, so they FD the aggro which jumps to other team's DPS. Original team waits until opposition numbers thin out, then reestablishes heals on MA and resumes as before.
Ex. #3: If your SK tries to snipe my Paladin's Ancient Cyclops with Harm Touch and DOTs, I should be able to Lay on Hands it and cure its poisons/diseases. And, in doing so, I would dump a lot of previously built hate, forcing you to tank the AC while I went on the offensive. It would even make sense from a RP perspective, with the enemy of my enemy being my friend.
TL;DR...
If you want to kill steal, I ought to be able to heal the kill, preventing my target from dying or delaying its death while I send out tells for allied DPS to port in.
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