Skypredator, you do)n't get it do you? Disci is one of the most sarcastic motherlovers on these forums. Most things he says should be taken with a grain of salt.
Sniper loadout (the OR specialist class, of course) is rather powerful. However, with the energy drop that happens every time you fire, you have to be damn good to duel with it. If somebody comes in with rockets and closes with a sniper of my level, which is a little below that of skypredator's and further below Lanthus and company, then I can chain it, run, and hope I get lucky. It depends on the skill of the dueler, as well, I can laser duel with some people and come out on top, but once somebody fires an LR, they don't run very far. The best way to kill a sniper is to get close in. Now with Lanthus et al, that's a feat, but if you catch them while they aren't looking at you, wait until they shoot and then pull their pants down with a rocket.
Maus, I understand that. ;] I can defend myself pretty well when sniping, only because I've used the Sniper Loadout for quite some time now. I'm not saying that I'm better than Lanthus or Kryst. Sniping is a piece of cake, until a well-seasoned LO comes my way (I.E., TrollFace McGee, OmniJunki3, Freeman, Discord, or Thunder) and makes me wish I'd never even been a sniper.
Now, for me, my LR dueling is mostly based on my target, mood, and ping. Ping is a no brainer, but if I'm sniping a high-priority target, such as HadesRevenge, I'll most likely miss because I become nervous that I'll mis. My hands tense up, and I miss by a mile. As far as mood goes, I once Trolled against Junki3 (Poor him

). He told me to kill him with a LR; he wouldn't shoot back. ALl he did was jump back and forth. I never hit him. Ever. However, I LR dueled Dacil a few weeks ago and "completely obliterated her" (In the words of one of the players spectating). This isn't to say that Dacil is incompetent and that I'm t0t4lly pr0. My point is that, coincidentally, I was in a good mood that day, so I was able to focus more on playing and having a good time than how I felt.
Now, after a few years of sniping in legions (More as an amateur, simply because I never picked up Legions as a competitive game to expand my skill set, which I thoroughly regret), I would hope that I'm a decent player. A major flaw in my play-style is that I will rant/rave/troll during a game if the teams are unbalanced, or I think they are

. This is something I wouldn't have ever done if I were on a team. All in all, one's play-style and skill set is dynamic, and based upon the player's psychographics.