Being able to build meter so quickly from taunts is a great thing, especially since you can land with a jumping taunt then do standing taunt into crouching taunt. His taunts still don't do damage but Dan can put on quite a bit of pressure with meter so it oughta make a fair bit of difference.
His close hard kick being a command normal might make it useful as anti-air? Being able to use it that little bit further out should lead to more damaging combos; in the latest change trailer he's seen linking that kick after a close standing medium punch then linking a HP.Koryuken at the end. That extra horizontal range on his dragon punch ought to make his BnBs more consistent. He's -5 after a blocked DP FADC forwards like everyone else now though.
lk.Dankicks oughta hit crouching characters more consistently as well, which will make a big difference against Blanka. I worry about how this change will impact Dan Vs grapplers though since a well spaced lk.dankick, hitting late, would keep Dan safe from reversal SPDs. Hopefully if it's just increased downward this shouldn't matter?
The increased damage for his Ultra 2 on juggled opponents is a really big deal. It used to be hilariously puny. In the Ultra build I played at Hypespotting Dan's W Ultra version of Ultra 2 still did more damage after KRK FADC combo than the same KRK FADC combo would have in AE 2012. Plus Ultra 1 breaking armour will make EX happy Balrog players more cautious on approach.
All in all I'm pretty happy with almost all the changes; I do agree with Ixion's suggestion that his far standing hard kick should have been the command normal with the default being his current cl.hk, though.
