ehhhhhh. If you can land your Q skillshot consistently it offers more, I've found, than maxing W first.
Personally, I would rather not be relying on Q for damage because you too often need to be using it for utility (wall-jumping, getting into engage range for Assault and Battery, etc.). It's also worth noting that while the direct damage will (usually) be comparable to Denting Blows, the armor shred and attack speed buff on the W is just much more valuable over any kind of long fight - and you should be expecting longer fights if you're built reasonably tanky.
W max first gives you the ability to duel most laners and pretty much any other jungler but Aatrox. It's pretty brutal. The only reason I'd see for maxing Q is if you're short just a little bit on the burst damage you need to make ganks on a relatively tanky mid laner succeed, but even then, most of the tankier mid laners (Gragas, Kassadin, etc.) have too easy of a time dodging the Q anyway.
Edit: Woof, Curse Academy getting dumpstered with Bronze League plays. Not even strategic problems, they're just doing some serious facepalm tower dives.
