I think the comparison between combo breakers and DPs is interesting (and I’ve made it in the past myself), but keep in mind that not all DPs are equal. Something like Kan-Ra sandsplosion on hit will leave Kan-Ra somewhere between 0 and +5 with the opponent, maybe even with Kan-Ra point blank, whereas Wulf shadow Eclipse even lets a juggle happen, which means Wulf gets the offensive situation of his choice.
I think the “universalizing” of combo breakers is a good idea, because being combo broken is something that should be less character specific than risk/reward for a DP, IMO. I also think that being around even frames with your opponent after a breaker is good, because even -40 and allowing meaty pressure (or, worse, Kan-Ra gets to set up a meaty swarm and jump over your head out of the corner, then create sand on top of all that) feels like maybe too much reward for breaking.
I definitely think smart people will do fewer one-chance breaks in general, because the penalty for being broken is not an offense/defense momentum switch, but rather just a return to neutral. This is huge for characters like Glacius/Aganos, who could get mauled after being broken (I imagine someone like Glacius won’t care as much about having ranged doubles broken now, for instance, because he will just be full screen at even frames like he was beforehand). On the other hand, some characters might still end up doing one-chance into a breakable mixup between sweep and flipout, which could give them a safe jump or an air reset mixup. I think it’s a good balance here, actually… better than in S2, because you actually do want short combos to have some reward, such that waiting to try breaking near the end of the combo can be a bad idea. I think S3 will probably have a really good balance between short combos and long combos, which I like.
And yes, the speed increase from breakers is probably the change that will surprise people the most. It is a massive speed increase to the entire game, and it leads to a bunch of really interesting situations. Like, after a breaker Jago could land at medium wind kick range. You could just decide to try and wrestle control of the neutral back by flying in with wind kick, or you could block and see if your opponent does that, or you could do any number of other things. This could easily happen before you even realize you’ve been combo broken, because the pace has been cranked up so much. I have no doubt that S3 of KI will be one of the fastest, most mentally draining fighting games in a long time, just because the only time you will ever get a break is when you’ve locked out or if you’re watching a long ender animation. Even other fast games, like Melee, will give you a few seconds of break every now and again as players recover from being launched off the stage.