I sniped all through Precursor and for about a week during Codex. In Precursor I had a couple thousand kills and 10.something KDR, and in Codex I had a few hundred kills and 13.89 KDR. You can try and act like KDR means nothing, but snipers are about the only role in the game where KDR is a useful metric for determining skill. So don't try and act as if you have some kind of authority on sniping unique to yourself.

That said, you are getting free kills for no effort.

Playing as a solo sniper versus playing as solo infantry now, I spend more on my equipment as infantry, I get fewer kills, and while I'll get more WP because I'll revive/hack as I go along, I do so while having a much greater challenge in front of me. Snipers shooting me, enemy infantry of all types, LAVs trying to run me over, turrets shooting me, grenade spam every game... it's pretty undeniable that infantry is a lot more difficult and has less of a pay-off.

Why should one of the safest roles in the game also be the most powerful, while requiring the least SP and being as hard as putting a dot on a target and pulling a trigger a couple times?

In either case I didn't mention it to compare ***** sizes.

I hate to be the one to say this, but if you're constantly getting killed by snipers have you ever considered, you know, changing the way you play? Snipers are not OP. Snipers are extremely weak in any form of cqc and increasingly vulnerable at a medium range. That's the way it should be. At long range, snipers are at their strongest. At the risk of pointing out the obvious; the further away a sniper gets from the target, the smaller the target gets. This makes it very easy to avoid being sniped (especially if you know you're being targetted) by moving in an erratic and unpredictable manner, and increasingly difficult to hit a target. Have you ever tried sniping a target with an unpredictable movement pattern? It takes luck or a lot of skill to do consistently; a hell of a lot more than pointing and shooting with an AR. If you're standing still, you have nothing to complain about.

So basically your argument is "omg snipers are taking away my precious shieldz plz nerf"? I don't understand.

what's the problem? If you're not getting killed, how does that make sniping easy mode? I think its been covered quite elaborately in this thread that the value of a sniper doesn't come from their KDR, but communication and ability to deny an area to the enemy. Now i'm not 100% sure about this, but if you were hiding in the hills hundreds of meters away, crouching or lying down with a sniper rifle, wouldn't you expect to be reasonably "safe"? you're not visible and you're detached from the battle. of course you would.
No serious negatives? is that a joke? I don't know if you've noticed but have you tried using a sniper rifle at close/short-medium range? probability of a kill plummets while the probability of being killed sky rockets. qualifies as a "serious negative" to me. There are also visual cues giving away position, coupled with the fact that theres only 1 or 2 maps in which sniping can be done effectively without concern for other classes. I have spent a lot of time as a sniper, and a lot of time hunting snipers. *obviously* the threat of a sniper is determined by the skill of the person using it; Its a game mechanic easily adjusted for and I know I never worry about noobs wielding it.

But otherwise, cheers for the condescending and brattish response to my otherwise reasonable reply!

really. a thread about sniper rifles being OP? you're probably high

Oh dear. I understood what he was saying you arrogant ****. MY point was that regardless of how good a snipers KDR is they are not "useful" and have trouble affecting the outcome of a match unless they are contributing to team goals i.e. overwatch of objectives, communicating enemy movements or generally providing specific area denial. This is a drawback of the class as it does not engage in combat the same way an assault or heavy class does (generally to push, capture or defend points by nature), and is very open to be used counter-productively. There is always some form of risk to a sniper, regardless of how relatively "safe" it is. If other snipers aren't hunting for you, then either you're not doing a very good job or they aren't. Maybe there should be another counter class, I personally don't see a problem with a class being its own counter but maybe that's just me.

Ohhhh right. you're concerned about the KDR and not team mechanics! gotcha! people don't care? I hear all the time about how people have deadweight snipers not doing **** for the team, not helping with objectives. If not used correctly, a sniper is relatively useless. Of course that's relevant and is a good balancing mechanic. This is a team based game where corporations fight each other and are coordinated about it. It's not like hordes of snipers run amok crushing everything in their scopes in pub matches either.

I understand perfectly what you're saying. I just disagree.

*snipped personal attacks and inappropriate language* - CCP Eterne

if the snipers don't care, and are just going for kdr, who gives a ****? let them go for their life. They will likely not receive any team support making them easier to kill and not make any meaningful contribution to the outcome of the game. I've generally found its not an issue as adapting my playing style so as not to get killed is not hard.

I think that if you're playing against a decent team the class isn't as overpowered as you seem to imply. Of course snipers are going to get ridiculous amounts of kills and no deaths if playing a bunch of blueberries, but the same could be said for any class if played well. A sniper is not that hard to counter if you're any good. I'm sure you've had experience hunting snipers and ending kill streaks. "easy" is relative. I've had some matches where I've found it incredibly easy, and others where it's increasingly difficult to find any momentum.