I think it was pretty obvious to anyone actually paying attention that sharpshooter was completely broken, we just didn't expect CCP to actually do anything about it.

Removing it is, by far, the best improvement they could have made for balance/gun game. I seriously applaud CCP for having the balls to remove it in order to improve the game, even though they surely knew that many of the people using SS as a crutch would be upset.

No. It is a lasers and snipers can now get right on top of you without fear of being shot buff.

Not equal at all.

Here is a game designer viewpoint. Not a Dev mind you, just a software guy.

First, let's look at what SS did. It added 5% per level for all light weapons. When proficiency is included that means the basic number is 40% more distance. However, the way EVE and DUST, as far as I can tell, works is that each bonus is multiplied one right after the other. That means the actual range is 27.6% at lvl 5 SS and 48% for lvl 5 Proficiency.

Now, image what you are doing is designing a ten year game. At least first few years will be building up the basic functionality of the character. So you include the Sharp Shooter Skill to adjust ranged based on how much benefit vs SP the players are willing to spend.

To get the balance right just enable SS for Light Weapons, Heavy Weapons and Sidearms. The Beta testers will get the benefit of the entire range. But that is not how you would want the Skill to actually work in the Release.

Each specific Weapon needs SP to be spent on it. Why? Because that is how EVE works and it requires the Most SP to be spent. Which means the player needs to be connected to DUST for longer to get those benefits for multiple weapons. Each weapon has specifics that will need to be addressed. That is very consistent with splitting Vehicles vs Drop Suits Skills. Doing that requires More SP to used, which means more SP will need to be generated, which means more AUR for more Boosters. Life is good.

Now we are getting two things Real Soon Now. First is May 6th, Uprising. That is a major update to the game. May 14th is something else. More maps, guns and might even be called a Release. It doesn't really matter. What does matter is that it will no longer be called Beta and new players will expect a more complete game. However, they will not come into the game with the preconceived ideas from the Beta testers regarding certain Skills. Because they are all gone and everything is new.

We no longer are going to be used to find bugs, test how fast SP should be generated per day/week/whatever and we won't be having the special bonuses we got because we were here first. We will have the SP advantage but a lot of it will be mitigated as the Sharpshooter Skill is evidence of. I wouldn't be surprise if everything costs more SP in the long run. We get to wade through the New Skill Tree and find a new balance for our character. Skilling LW SS to lvl 5 will not increase the range for multiple weapons. We will have to make the decision regard Which Specific Weapon we want to improve. Just like the Newest of the New Berries.

It's a new game.