I think what I don't like is that starting the swing action feels like it loses so much momentum the character has, but it also takes a while when holding for it to gain new momentum. It doesn't feel like I can swing, stop, and use that momentum to hit an orb, and quickly swing away from the spikes- and it also doesn't feel like I can swing towards the orb, start swinging a bit early to "account" for it, and then still get the orb.
If that makes sense?