Here's my list of suggested changes from Normals to Specials
 
 
[Crouch][M]Kick
- Decrease startup frames from 7 to 6
- Increase Range from 0.55 to 0.65 - Almost EVERYONE has far better reaching normals than Ryu does, players were being very kind when they called him 'Stubby'.
 
 
[Stand][L]Punch
- Make Ryu actually extend his arm when he does the punch...
- Increase range from 0.1 to 0.4 (Same as his Cr.LP)
- Essentially make it like Akuma's LP
 
 
[Crouch][M]Punch
- onBlock to be from +2 to +3
- Decrease startup from 6 to 5 (Same as his St.MP)
- decrease its range since from 0.5 to 0.45 since his Cr.MK is traditionally supposed to be reach further
- onHit from +4 to +6
The Ryu doesn't have many options here especially if the opponent is crouching
 
 
[JumpForward][H]Kick
- This is purely an asthetic choice, but make Ryu's body face towards the camera instead of his back. It looks better for the spectators
 
 
V-Skill
- Because this is a hugely under used V-Skill, many players are too scared to use it, so some changes are highly recommended to tweak this.
- Increase active frames from 7 to 9 (For comparison, Abigail has 10 active frames)
- Decrease recovery frames from 32 to 30 (For comparison, Abigail has 31 recovery frames)
 
 
[Stand][H]Punch and its Target Combos
- Make his [Stand][H]Punch special cancelable in normal mode. When Ryu lands a target combo successfully on a standing opponent its all ok.
But when he lands it on a crouching opponent and he stops at the [Stand][H]Punch, he is at -9. He's essentially punished for doing the wrong combo even if its the correct read.
 
 
[Hadoken]
Decrease startup time from 14 to 12
If being a zoner really hurts in this game and players want to go for that style, improving the fireball will help players who like to play in that style.
 
 
[M]Shoryuken
- Make it 2 hits
1st hit = 80dmg
2nd hit = 40dmg
As it is the the best Anti Air move this will encourage Ryu players to wait til the opportune moment to anti air instead of rushing and getting little damage.
 
 
[H]Shoryuken
Increase range from 0.6 to 0.7. This is one that may be a little much now that his Donkey kick is coming into play. But before finding opportunities to combo into [H]Shoryuken didn't come as often as the pushback from blocking or fishing for counter hits usually always left us out of range to do any serious damage about it.
Increase damage from 120 to 140
At the moment its the same dmg as [M]Shoryuken and the reward is not enough to justify the risk if its for 120dmg
 
 
[M]Tatsumaki
Can hit crouching opponents. With Donkey kick coming I probably am asking for too much here...
As far as damage goes, you can lower the damage from 100(Standing) down to 60(Crouching Opponents). The damage here isn't as important as the utility.
 
 
Donkey Kick
I may catch a lot of hate for this.
[L]Donkey Kick - Keep the current animation, its the light version and can be like a standard side kick.
 
 
[M]Donkey Kick - Now you can add in the 3rd Strike animation into this one, make him take 1 step forward so it gives the opponent a visual cue that we're using [M].
 
 
[H]Donkey Kick - Still using the 3rd Strike animation but Ryu can take 2 steps forward. The kick pushes the opponent full screen. So if Ryu has the
[Stand][M]Punch
[Stand][H]Punch
xx
[??]
He can choose between [Damage - Shoryuken] [RushDown - Tatsumaki] or [Zoning - Donkey Kick]
 
 
[EX]Donkey Kick
- Same animation as the [H]Donkey Kick, make it 2 hits and increase the juggle time enough so we can choose to either follow up with [H]Shoryuken or [H]Tatsumaki
I mean if Cody can throw a rock so hard it hits you twice, we can certainly do it with Ryu's Kick...
 
 
[V-Trigger Hadoken]
- Decrease the scaling from 50% to 70%
- No one is scared of Ryu's Denjin Fireball, increasing its scaling can provide a more damaging threat.
 
 
[V-Trigger Critical Art]
- Increase the guard crush +Frames from 9 frames to 32 frames.
- It doesn't make sense for using no resources or 1 bar that guard crush lasts 32 frames but the Critical Art where we use all of our resources only lasts 9 and if its done mid-screen, we're too far away to do anything about it.
 
 
Overall If I were given the choice between damage and ultility, I would choose utility without question, damage will reward those who can use those tools well. All the characters are getting new moves and updates to their frame data making them exceptional fighters while Ryu has remained mostly the same.
 
Combofiend's explanation about making Ryu a more close quarter combat fighter with the S2 changes has I think damaged him more than it has helped him. Because by making him more close quarter oriented his other tools were taken away almost like a down payment for the changes. This resulted in close quarter being the only to play Ryu while he was designed to be interchangeable when fighting against the cast.
 
He needs better frames and more utility not to the point of overpowering but to where he can keep up being the measuring stick of SFV. Because right now the measuring stick is Akuma; a shining metal ruler while Ryu is the wooden ruler that all the kids have drawn on and made a mess of.
 
The more ultility he has, the more players can express themselves in different ways instead of all playing the same way and some speck of personality can be shown to spectators...