Snipers are worthless based on the style in which warframe is created. Even if you solo rescue missions they are still not viable. The rest of the mission types throw wave after wave of enemies at you.
I've taken a small break and am only logging in to keep up my daily tribute. I do want the karak wraith for collection and mastery but I'm not doing anymore sortie's until Nezha and the focus system doesn't particularly interest me.
The thing is, yes they largely are worthless because of the traits innate to that class of weaponry:
-2 to 3 seconds long reload times
-most maps will have encounters within 20 or so meters the zoom is too high for this game because targets won't even spawn that far away in most tiles
-only the Lanka has penetration
-is literally impossible now to use the weapon unscoped after U18
-have to wait to fire until the gun is FULLY zoomed or your shot will inherit the "unscoped" property and your shot will veer off wildly
-the combo system introduces a mechanism that makes you shoot everything to get the most damage, instead of having you pick and choose carefully the highest priority targets instead of which are the most important targets to shoot with the tiny clips these rifles have.
-the combo system again asks you to shoot everything as fast as possible instead of being methodical or lose the damage bonuses leading to wildly inconsistent damage output with every gun except vectis (only one shot in the clip)
things generally the community asked for:
-Improved scopes
-consistent damage output
-innate penetration
-to be the anti-heavy unit /nullifier weapon
-suite of mods that grant bonus effects on headshot/weakpoints
Essentially,a bunch of utility stuff that gives them a place in the game that makes them powerful when used correctly but weak when used outside of its intended role.