Hm. It's always going to feel bad to tap your 4/4 to deal 1. Not so bad if you've blocked on it already, but pretty painful to hold back from attacking with it just for the same of dealing 1 damage to someone else's blocker.

I wonder if you could give this vigilance? It'd probably need to shrink slightly, or gain to cast, but it'd feel nicer once it's on the battlefield.

I was thinking along the same lines actually, it's just that I didn't want to make it less tough or cost more.