@Meddler Why can't Morde have W without a teammate?

I'm not sure it was ever really discussed as to why Morde couldn't have his W outside of a minion wave or a nearby ally?

Having his W outside of a nearby ally and minion would allow him to have a larger expression of skill outside of lane phase. Currently his decision making looks something like this. Am I in a minion wave that I'm trying to build up a shield in, no, press W twice really fast for burst heal. Meanwhile if he had W unlocked outside of minion waves and allies you now get to play this risk reward game. It becomes:

Do I leave W up to try and get shield/damage, do I double pop it for instant healing. There would be clear instances for both situations.

The damage/shield value could be used in small skirmishes where you need the extra shielding for long term low damage fights. The extra damage could also be used to keep people slowed with rylis, and stop people from straight up out walking you (since morde has 325 base movement speed). Meanwhile the heal would be better for countering waves of burst, and getting your health back up so you can get your W heal back up faster. Four seconds (because of longer cd when you hold onto W) is a long time to wait when you really need to get your heal back up faster. Double poping W twice fast, also gives a more instantaneous shield, allowing you to shield bust damage better.

Having it fully unlocked would show expression of skill on each morde player. Knowing the difference between instant pop and getting damage could potentially be huge.

There also isn't much of a reason to force him to only have it with a teammate or minion wave, is there?