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When we are designing a skill, we look at several axis. With movement skills, it’s a little tricky because the primary function of all of them is identical and pretty simple, move quickly. We like skills to be as unique as possible and reflect thematically on the class using them.
A really clear example of this is wolves vs skeletons. They are both “foot soldier” style minions but one can get far more, has less health, is often used as a resource and the other can buff each other and can be restored when downed. We take the themes from both classes and apply them mechanically to the skills to make them distinct from each other.
This is the same when it comes to movement skills, it’s just a little less clear sometimes. A good example is the distinction between teleport and transplant. The skills are extremely similar, the biggest difference right off the bat is one costs mana and the other costs health.
Movement abilities don’t have a lot of ways to be made mechanically unique from each other in super meaningful ways but when you string them together it can work well. Cooldown, targeting type, fixed distance or variable, channeled or cast, use cost, speed, damage and secondary effects are most of what we have to work with. In order to build the fantasy for rogue, we wanted the primary movement ability to be very agile. Short burst movement that allows for frequent use and to weave in other abilities. Giving it the ability to pick any target location makes it a shorter max range teleport with huge upsides in almost every other category.
So, part of what keeps shift unique and balanced is that it has a fixed distance that it moves. Part of the learned mechanics with using a rogue is internalizing how far shift will take you and being able to use it consistently at the right moment to get to where you want to go.
I just wanted to give a little insight into how we created the skill and why it is the way it is. We also did test it with a variable dash distance in the initial design stage and we didn’t like the result. We are really happy with the way shift plays and feels so it’s unlikely that we will change it. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible though and I really appreciate the detailed feedback with references that you’ve provided.