I agree with you in all and for the most part you are correct, but as I had addressed about the DS issue, is that honestly if that one character alone is giving everyone issues then there may be something needs further investigation. I fear no zoner honestly, and thus far DS is the only zoner that seems to be my problem as well as others. I am no pro player, but I can still somewhat hang with with big dawgs.
Thing is, this one character isn't giving everyone a problem, just a few, and those few still have options but they choose not to explore them.
For some reason people are on this kick that FGs need to be easy, and that annoying is bad and broken...that is not the case. Annoying is just that, annoying, and if someone incorporates annoying into their play style, that is them. It's actually a viable strategy as by annoying your opponent, you goat them into making a mistake which you can capitalize on; but everyone has their patterns and habits, and it because of that fact that the smarter player can/will win.
Case in point, someone said that Grundy vs DS is horrible because a full screen DS owns (or something like that). At full screen though, DS's chip damage isn't that bad (it's almost negligible), and his push back in non-existent unless you get hit. After closing the gap, even if you can only close the gap slowly, and getting into the mid range, Grundy still as to worry about armor eating moves (so play smart and make good reads), but his mix ups are comparable to DS' and he can do more damage off them. On paper Grundy beats DS up close, and with the right reads Grundy destroys DS up close (just like much of the rest of the cast).
To end, the best option to counter annoying is patience, and the knowledge and ability to capitalize on opportunities. I may be preaching to the choir here, but you've got to know not only character's strengths and weakness, but pay attention to the players habits and playstyle so you can counter and exploint them in order to win. Knowing when to press and when to hold back is key. After playing DS for a while and realizing that for the most part his normals aren't that fast and his guns are crap up close, I can see that in the mid/close range DS is just an average fighter; he's good but far from the best.
Nerfing DS would destroy this character, and/or just potentially make him into another average rush down character. That would be more boring that he is now IMHO.
