Gunnery versus Marksman

It's always a "perception" issue when it's not your class and an underpowered issue when it is.

EDIT: I want to make it clear that I'm not suggesting Commandos/Mercenaries are fine, but I do find it odd that you guys are targeting a class that is doing abysmal in solo and mediocre in group (despite our reputation in ranked, our top sniper sits at 1738, underneath every class but you guys and marauders). Playing a gunslinger/sniper in ranked right now is not an enjoyable experience by any means, and not something you really want to put as your goal post.

This is a perception issue, not a reality issue.
People THINK sniper/slingers are weak because there arent more on the leaderboards, but they are not. The reason we dont see more of them is not weakness, but the fact that people can do more with other classes in terms of overall utility, specifically, Sorcs.
Sometimes people take too much at face value and forget to think.

It's generally accepted by the majority of pvpers that the sniper is in a bad place for solo ranked ( not just by the data) that said, the merc is in the same vote. ( then again most can argue that the problem is not with the classes but with solo ranked itself).

I can emphasize that gunnerys burst dps is not nearly up to par with marksman however if they brought it up to the same level, then there would be no reason to play marksman and we'd be in the same vote with marksman not comparing up to gunnery (due to not having the cleanse/off-healing/mobility). [am bringing up mobility do to the sniper relies on being in cover for the interrupt immunity on its cast times while the merc with thrill of the hunt can use several abilities without having to stand in place).

Pretty much atm mercs are trading off the loss of burst for poor off-heals that don't work very well therefore I think a solution to this would be to upgrade the mercs off-heals and make them more effective (i.e. actually useful and harder to shut down [ basically on par with sorcs off-healing ] .

True, but the question isnt that, the questions is WHY is this the perception regarding Sniper/Slingers? and is it factual?
Your points on Mercs are accurate. I'm just curious to see why you feel this is the case on Sniper/Slingers.

This is a perception issue, not a reality issue.
People THINK sniper/slingers are weak because there arent more on the leaderboards, but they are not.

The reason snipers under perform in solo ranked is due to the same reason that mercs under perform, their cooldowns do not do well under focus fire. After the sniper uses its roll (buys 2 seconds) and evasion (buys 3 seconds) and knock back (good depending on the situation) they're pretty much a sitting duck (depending on the other teams group composition). Diversion works rather well if the other team as a few melee on their side but ranged dps can just walk right out of it (plus it's not a sure way to mitigate damage). Leg shot/flash bang can be (most of the time will be) broken by your own team.

Even if you use your cool downs effectively in solo ranked without support from your team, you're going to die very quickly. The sniper is almost the definition of a glass cannon, very easy to kill (under focus) however can put out great damage.

Pretty much the strat for snipers in yolos is to stay alive as long as possible and do as much damage as you can before being the first to die. (second if you've got a merc on your team =-P )

The other classes need to get nerfed before snipers need a buff IMO.

in a 1v1 any smart mm sniper will close the gap in distance with either roll and entrench or flash grenade but that would most commonly be used on htl to prevent themselves from being Los'ed once that happens there is notrunning away from them. Not facing any good snipers if you truly feel that a arsenal merc will beat a MM sniper