I've finally had a chance to play around with the painwheel changes against other people, and would like to share my thoughts.
For context, I've been playing Painwheel since I started with Skullgirls in 2021, picking up Peacock not long after. A majority of my playtime has been spent with Squigly as a third, though I've played mostly Pea/PW this year and am highly considering adding umbrella to the lineup once the ongoing changes are stabilised.
I think this context is significant given the cumulative effects of Lenny and Hatred Install nerfs absolutely wrecking the damage end of that DHC pairing. While still great utility, the extra recovery on Install and changes to Lenny timing have gutted the options and damage of those routes (especially considering you feel the Lenny damage nerf
twice thanks to hatred guard).
With this established, I'm immediately going to say I have no issue with the Hatred Install changes, I think there's room in the future to look at the increased timer on point + damage removal as a push towards a more sweeping change that moves HI from being near entirely a damage install (faster nail charge doesn't feel any more significant with the extended timer, the extra armour has always felt significant though). As HI currently stands it still feels like a significant super with decent enough reason to activate both on hit/block as a point super and DHC.
Going through the rest of the changes point by point
Hitbox changes
Absolutely magical, and taking me some time to get used to, Painwheel can now use 5mp and h buer to anti air far more comfortably. This was mentioned off offhandedly earlier by another user; but the increased viability of 5mp in conjunction with the increased difficulty of the reactive conversion it requires is going to be one of the changes that it will take longer to see the ramifications of. 5mp is a decidedly more appealing anti-air option now in a way that's actively altering my play patterns for the better
2lp change has been great for adding a bit of extra consistency to mixups that involve the character bouncing over painwheel, and the increased consistency added by l buer changes pushes the definition of "corner" for ending strings to the limit, I've frankly been shocked by the distances I've gotten 5mk > 5hp > l buer from post the patch. The L buer size increase has also let me use it as a psuedo M buer in neutral for crazy hits from pokes I've armoured through, which feels like a great stable reward. I think the changes to the affected moves hit the nail on the head.
Normals Frame changes
All of these feel good, too. 5lk change is a godsend for consistency. It's most certainly for the best that j.lp loses its current ability to rising overhead (with an easy conversion with flight cancel) but I don't think it would be too oppressive as a rising mid? The speed of j.lp right now feels really comfortable, and post pushblock there's a decently sized gap before painwheel can even land a fully committed flight cancel j.6mp, enough that many common meterless reversal options will cleanly beat the j.mp, and PW must be reactive to avoid being hit by assist calls (such as fast fall blocking annie Pillar or Hungern Rush). I really like the addition of this as an option in PW's kit and would love to use this as a rising mid to catch holding up back in the corner.
Specials Frame changes
L buer yummy, I can do 2mp l nails on squigly midscreen regardless of distance, no further comments.
Other Buer Reaper Changes
In love with the new meter gain, feels like a comfortable amount.
Reduced recover feels really good on moves people already weren't punishing at max distance, I'm feeling even better now about just throwing out l/m buer in conjunction with armour as opposed to autopiloting flight each time.
Hatred Guard Changes
My experience with these changes might be confirmation bias, and PW would have won most of these situations regardless, but this is another change that feels palpable now that it's been added to PW's kit properly, HG feels stronger than ever. The universal armor changes have also sullied any subconscious envy I might have had for other character's armour too, which is a nice little bonus that feels appropriate to tack on here.
If Hatred Install got any significant mechanical changes, I think it would be fun to see this active frame armour extended in install throughout the activity, while miniscule for most buttons, would be awesome on j.hp or 2.mp and possible even make for interesting assists in the same vein Annie's install 6hp is.
Accidental Flight
This change is shockingly one of the best feeling ones in her kit. Drops I would previously get the first 5/10 times a day on routes I was not comfortable with that were related to the negative edge buer reaper change don't happen, and I struggle to even intentionally replicate them, also has me feeling a lot more confident in my ability to get combos off of more scrambly conversions, where I would have managed to input fc > j.l buer over a 6j.lk.
Brief Snippet on Further Changes
Just because I saw this mentioned:
Even if it means, 22 + Punch button gives you 3 specific charged normals chosen by the dev team or she doesnt get non-charged normals
Even if this was just 2lp, 2mp, 2hp respectively with their full charge, I think charged 2mp and 2hp would be significant contenders for viable assist options on painwheel. Charged 2mp as a sort of faux butcher's blade that starts up mildly faster and won't inherently cause additional assist lockout, at the cost of range and lockdown effectiveness (this would also bring additional value to the properties of the final hit on airborn opponents, letting smaller chars run under on hit). Charged 2hp assist sounds really funny too.
Anyway, absolutely in love with what we got for painwheel, not desperate to see the DHC recovery backpedaled on too much, and very happy with where the damage is at. Thank you very much for these changes <3
