I think they got pretty bad. It depends on how you utilize cover. But if you use it, your models will stand closer together, there is just no way around it. This is one change of the last big patch.
This forces all kinds of AOE to be more effective. This is true for all factions: it's also a buff to mortars and arty, but here the buff is symmetrical to all factions.
For riflenades, it produces an imbalance.They are on only one faction. And they were for sure not that lethal before the cover changes. At the same time, fused grenades got nerfed big time. Evading them got a lot easier with the last patch.
I know, but I feel that rifle grenade is easier to avoid now. The AoE of the rifle grenade is slightly smaller than the regular grenades and the animation also lasts quite a while before the guy actually fires the rifle grenade. If he fires at long range then he risks wasting the grenade since they take a while to reach the target but if he goes close range then you know something is up since grenadiers are kinda lame at close range unless they have g43.
Currently, the grenades that I like the most are hand-thrown grenades because they just perform better for me than the rifle grenade.