"posterboy" characters with dps will always be overpopulated online, even if low tier(ken) or boring
Athena will totally get played. DP, Fireball, command grab, teleport? Yeah. I might play her too, actaully.
also i hate how like all of kyo's specials that aren't dp/fireball are combo only now they made his running "grab" unsafe on block..that shit only had low invuln and was telegraphed as hell
overall though, most of the changes seem reasonable and good
Not terribly happy that Mai's EX ryuenbu is invincible on startup now...because it was + frames before, and it would be silly to haev it be both invincible(Though, if invincibility ends much before the active frames, that'd be okayish) and + frames, and i'd rather have it as + frames than a dp. Her 41236k deserves invincibility more since that move is ass and already risky and unsafe on block except for EX.
Her dive apparently is better on block..which would mean if aimed at the feet, it might be + Frames now. It was -1 or 2 before IIRC.
K' got some fair nerfs for neutral/pressure and some combo buffs and nerfs iirc
More detailed change list(not complete or final of course): http://orochinagi.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=2922&sid=a54e95fca14f79b1e3bc346bf633b769&start=285#p75523
http://orochinagi.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=78&t=2922&start=300#p75535 details on k' nerfs
I'm a little worried on the crossups change, but otherwise I'm pretty happy with most changes. Game should end up having really good character balance.