On the molotov discussion -
Riflenades have no upgrade cost (apart from Tier 1 but that's useful for a lot of other things), deal all their damage as frontloaded, have a reasonable area of effect, do an OK amount of damage to M3s(allowing you to finish one after a faust), can one-hit buildings, are much easier to fire from out of line of sight/behind obstacles, usually don't require you to leave cover (and therefore are telegraphed less) and also have a botched warning right now.
'Molotovs are also something I've been thinking a lot about lately. The utility they give from start to finish is just unparalleled for their price point and early arrival.' doesn't really cut it when riflenades are a free upgrade and have at least equal utility.
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I'm not sure I'm a high-level enough player to comment with authority but it seems to me like you're expecting hard build order counters for strategies designed to have a synergy where each part of the strat compensates for another bit and the real counters are a matter of play (so, flank the snipers or use the scout car and FHT to force the Soviets to keep their forces bunched up, or alternatively get a mortar halftrack to put pressure on the snipers or whatever). If you're getting outplayed by a really good Soviet player I'm not sure that's evidence that the Soviet 'meta' is OP relative to the Ostheer...
Most of the good players I watch who play both sides regularly seem to feel that the Soviets are the weaker faction at the moment.
I envision continuing changes to both sides, please dont consider this a "nerf soviets!!11Eleven1!" thread because I consider their changes more pressing.
Rifle nades are not the god send you might think they are.
Using two early game eats up basically your first LMG or flamer which has long term impacts on your squad's survivability, vetting, ability to do its job, and hold territory vs aggressive sov early game play. As long a sov player holds a fair number of points or a high munition, maps like langres pretty much make molotovs "free" because you will never throw more than your income can support. There is no tradeoff early game like if I throw a molotov I wont be able to get a PPSH, or something.
Therefore the imbalance doesnt come from the strength or availability of the molotov itself, it comes from the fact that munitions arent realistically limiting its use. If a pgren spamming german tried to throw bundled nades as often as molotovs, he would go broke fast.
Some of the advantages you mention for rifle nades are bugs IMO, such as the verbal warning and the building spontaneous combustion. Hopefully these will be fixed ASAP.
The front loaded damage is nice but anyone who is paying attention to their units can anticipate a rifle nade same as I can see a molotov coming. Conscripts are designed to get up close and personal on grens--if you HTD and go afk as the grens back off to rifle nade, thats your fault not the game's.
The nature of 6 man soviet squads is that a rifle nade does damage more often than it gets outright kills. A guard frag grenade on the other hand regularly kills 3-4 of my grens leading to much rage on my part. I dont think the frag is stronger but german entities path closer to eachother so it ends up more effective.
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Regarding counters soviets have hard counters to every german unit, why should the inverse not be true? All props to soviet players who can micro well, but that doesnt mean I should have to buy an elefant to kill a non-doctrinal unit that appears 10 minutes into a game.