User blog comment:Willbachbakal/(Champion Rework) Vladimir, the Crimson Reaper/@comment-3984877-20160413064602/@comment-1330314-20160413070021

Autoattacks are one of the most basic, intuitive and healthy ways to enable massive amounts of power. As a close-range mage, Vladimir is going to have to be near his basic attack range anyway, and I think him taking "free damage" from getting into risky ranges is part of his job description, whereas his current playstyle of hanging back and spamming Q for infinite free sustain is one of the most uninteractive and boring in the entire game. He is naturally at a disadvantage against poke champions on Live, and I think that's fine because when against a poke comp he can still push or follow up on hard engage, and when attacked he still has a very good disengage.

I also think Vlad having health costs is what allows him to be a sustain mage in the first place. He's all about putting himself at risk and reaping the benefits, and if he were able to heal for free he would have no incentive to do much more besides abuse his healing on minions, which is what he does now once he supersedes his health costs through spell vamp. You are also underestimating the power of his ultimate, which at the very least is like a that can be applied to five people simultaneously, and is stronger than his current ult in both raw amp numbers and utility, as it also heals Vlad.