WARNING: This will be a long read as well.

As a sniper, my opinion has been gradually changing more and more. Especially in light of our recent practice matches against our allies.

Here are my new conclusions:

- Sniper Riles are for noobs.
(It's true. It's only good for low-tiers. Sniper rifles proto and below are **** crap against higher tier players, even with multiple damage mods. When it takes a proto-sniper 3+ rounds (out of a 5-round clip, and your shields catch 2 of those 3 rounds) to down you, you are in a VERY good spot. Congratulations.)

- Sniper Rifles are mostly useless.
(Yes, you can save an ally from being flanked. Or finish off an opponent, that is fighting a blueberry. Or maybe have a good angle on an objective terminal. But it won't matter. Often, you'll kill the flanker a second too late. Or your hit detection will bug out at a critical moment. Or there will be multiple guys (mostly shield tanks) stirring around in place as they hack the objective you are designated to defend (sorry your clip just isn't big enough to get them all off of the objective); and you only have roughly 3-5 seconds to track and pull off 3 headshots (if they are proto-suits, not even headshots will do enough damage fast enough). Use a tactical? Might work. Miss once, and you failed, and you will fail a lot.)

- Sniper Rifles don't have much of a niche to fill.
(As more and more players spec up their Assaults and Assault Rifles, they are increasingly resistant to sniper damage, and their ARs in general are nailing targets excess of 130m. This means there is no place a sniper can go to perform his duty effectively on any map short of Manus' Peak. Remember, this is a VERY fast, ZERO sway, VERY mobile, 130m AR range. An AR on the Ashlands map will hit and kill a sniper on the main tower.)

- Sniper Rifles and the Sniper role will never be balanced.
(As long as the dead-brained continue to think it's unfair to be shot from a position they can't reach on foot. Snipers are regulated to exterior areas of the map where they are easily flanked and have few good angles on objectives. This dramatically reduces their impact on the game. With the introduction of more cover and objects to hide behind, the fixing of damage mods, and NO base damage boost for SRs on the horizon; the sun will continue to set on this niche, if it hasn't already. Red Zone was increased, camping positions removed, that alone shows the direction where this niche role is headed.)

In a match against our allies last night, I didn't even bother go into a sniper perch after I saw how much damage my sniper rifle did to our opponents. Can I please scratch your paint more?
I just ran a Type-1 Assault Raven suit with BPOs and an Exile for the rest of the fight, and I put up way more of a fight when I did.

All I'm waiting for now, is to see what this next build in April will bring...
Any other hits to niche roles, and I will just play Assault. Niches be damned. Just make a decision and turn this game into a CoD already. I'll spec up an Assault. Max it out, and then quit Dust514, because there will be nothing else to bother skill into. Cept maybe Jets and Gunships, at least before those get nerfed to all hell.

I'm literally on my last thread of hope for this game.
Everything for me, depends on the next build.