I suspect they are both on the “completely revamp” list for the next age. With the tavern changes and the thrall placements, it appears to me at least that the entire ecosystem of thralls and pets is getting prepped. It would explain leaving them in a broken state for now if their new functionality is not quite ready for prime time. Neither is super critical in moment to moment gameplay, so leaving them broke before revamp would make sense.
Also, think about a ling standing request for placed archers; an arrow “pot” where community arrows would be drawn. This would be just like a thrall pot but for arrows; the problem is as I understand it that the thralls and pots pinging back and forth is a source of lag, so if something like an arrow pot were coming, they would want to address all of them in a more optimized way. Pure conjecture of course, but I think in the context of all the changes to the ecosystem of our base, its not unreasonable.