Team Fortress 2 and snipers

[illas]

-TL;DR-
The SS does more damage than the default rifle in the hands of a newbie, but much less in the hands of a pro. It gives newbies something to learn with (and thanks to the Jarate effect, help their team) before progressing to the more difficult and thus more powerful (default) Sniper Rifle.
Good snipers will still beat bad Snipers, they just have to aim a few pixels lower when they see the full SS set.

As indicated in my above post, I actually disagree with the idea that the Sleeper will be an effective practice tool.

The reason we have so many terrible-to-poor snipers playing in general is that practice with the skills they use at the lower levels doesn't have much carryover to the skills used at the higher levels.

I'd also nitpick and say that the strategy used by good snipers won't have to change at all - the enemy sniper is only modified if he's got the full set on, in which case he's equivalent to an overhealed sniper (and therefore something a good sniper will already have experience dealing with).

I would suggest the following (on a gameplay philosophy level, at the very least):

The SS teaches players to aim for bodyshots, since it cannot headshot.
Bodies are bigger targets than heads - therefore easier to hit.
Once one gets good at hitting bodies, one switches to the default rifle.
...then goes for heads which require more a more precise aim.
Thus, the basic skill-set is an advancement on the SS.

Furthermore, if (as you claim) elite Snipers won't/will barely have to change their strategies, then the set is hardly over-powered.

 

[CruentusMist]

I dont know why you guys are fighting about the sydney sleeper.
The sydney sleeper is fine. Let those who want to use it do so.
It doesnt unbalance anything.
The theory behind balance is that you have a variety of tactics available and no singular tactic is perfect and devastates all the other tactics.

For those of you with the go hard or go home phillosophy, keep it in the scrims.
Most people just wanna play and have fun on public servers.

The only legitimate imbalance is the full crock set + medic combo.
Invincible snipers are hard to call balanced.