What I'd like to see in 6.82

It's not that hard to get within killing range of a Sniper, at which point Take Aim is useless, Headshot however is always useful, i.e. Magic Immunity + Evasion beware!

But you need some sort of a gap closer to negate Take Aim. I think that if any hero with decent burst, manfight or disable gets within 500 range, the midget is as good as dead. His skills are very underwhelming overall, but Take Aim compensates. This skill means that your team can draw enemy focus while you happily shoot them from 950 range away.

It's pretty much as you say, Gap Closers + Burst Damage aren't that hard to come across, and there's always the use of Blink Dagger from up to 1200 units away. Hlaf the Hero Pool has sufficient Burst Damage and either a Gap Closer, or a good synergy with Blink Dagger. Only Heroes that are weak early on, like Drow Ranger, Medusa, etc. have any real trouble laning against a Sniper.

You don't even need any real Gap Closers ither, just being fast is good enough. I've owned countless Sniper Mids with Nightstalker as soon as night came around simply because Voiding them when they're halfway across the river + plus fast Movement Speed + Stout Shield + Miss Chance means they can't run or fight. They're just food regardless of Take Aim...

I really think Sniper is a very weak mid. He's much more viable safelane as a carry, even though a quite underwhelming carry when compared to something like Faceless Void, Medusa, and so on...
Mid Sniper just gives me headaches : weak lane presence, no ganking potential and no rune control. Why lane him mid when a Puck or Batrider offers so much more?

Because people are thinking stupidly. I still think Take Aim is Sniper's most useful skill, kiting has never been easier with that and an Eye of Skadi.

You really don't know what your talking about. Sniper is the hardest range carry in the game and he is not an underwhelming carry. Sniper can demolish any enemy within 950 range. And you can't even get close to him. If Sniper is not caught in the Chronosphere, he will destroy Faceless Void, before he touches him. The thing you say about Sniper giving headaches harassing you, that's the good thing about him. Yeah Sniper is weak early game. He is suppose to be weak. Sure he may receive minor buffs in the future. But if he gets one, to or more buffs he will get overpowered and everyone will cry about it. Don't underestimate Sniper.

No you're wrong. Sniper's most useful spell is Take Aim followed by Headshot.

Sniper isnt a good hero at all. He isnt even that hard of a carry, after 40 minutes single target damage starts to fall off in close games, and since sniper farms very slowly he wont be the number 1 in farm.

I would like to see him turned into a completely different hero, some sort of ranged disabler, instead of the most boring carry imaginable.

The point is, Sniper isn't used as a "hard carry" in competitive, but as a tower sieger: much like Death Prophet, he can deal tons of damage to towers without many problems even if there are enemies nearby. Sniper teams usually focus on five man early pushes with a counter-initiator or two, so that when the enemies jump on Sniper they can turn the fight.

Also, about the mid argument, remember that Heroes like Lycanthrope and Invoker, who have no lane control whatsoever (aside from Tornado, but who uses it on creeps anyway), are also played mid. The difference is that they have global spells to help their trilane ( Howl and Sun Strike, unless we're talking about QW Invoker), but they shouldn't be ganking because that slows up their farm. Talking about ganking, Heroes like Shadow Fiend and Naga Siren don't do that either when played mid, but they have some nukes to control the lane at least: that's why, when I play Sniper mid, I always max out Shrapnel. It also deals huge damage to towers, which is what you're looking for as a Sniper.

TL;DR: Sniper is a good five man pusher. And talking about other underestimated Heroes, Drow Ranger is actually a good split pusher with a Blink Dagger or Shadow Blade.

Nearly 400 games in and I have only just recently played Sniper myself, and having played against him tonnes of times I cant help feeling he needs a rework.

What it made me think was that Sniper needs a means of dealing with close combat. I liked Drow Rangers silence change and to me it feels that perhaps Sniper needs something similar to make either his escape possible or help in team fights better whilst retaining his innate Sniperness.

What about dropping Shrapnel and giving him an alternative firing mode like Troll Warlord ? Something like a Blunderbuss Gun , short range, non-targeted arc firing - an Arc field of vision version of Quill Spray.

Blunderbuss Mode (Q)
When Sniper is discovered by his enemies, his rifle is no longer an appropriate weapon to fight in sucg close quarters, and so Kardel resorts to old bessy, the Blunderbuss.
- Range : 350
- Attack Speed : Current less : 100/80/60/40
- Fires in a forward 90 degree arc

You could link his passives to it, for example:
Headshot
Sniper mode - same
Blunderbuss mode:
- Targets affected by the chance to mini-stun : 2/3/4/5
- Ministun duration : 0.25
- Chance : 40%
- Pushback range : 100/150/175/200

Take Aim
Sniper Mode - same
Blunderbuss mode:
- Range bonus : 75/100/125/150
- Pushback bonus : 20/40/60/80

Assassinate
Sniper Mode - same
Blunderbuss mode:
Kardel loads a special explosive shot that after a 2 seconds loading time (channelling), fires in a target area, causing initial and overtime damage, also mini-stunning and applying the current level of pushback to all caught in the blast from the central point.
- Radius : 400
- Initial Damage : 100/150/200
- Damage over time : 30/35/40
- Duration : 3/4/5
- Affects buildings
- Cooldown : 75/60/45
- Mana : 150/225/300

Thoughts for a laugh ?