I believe the reason why snipers and their Republic counterpart - gunslingers are played this way is to be a support DPS, who work not as an open run into the field head first type chars, but rather more trickier and secondary opponent that does stuff on second lines. Basically let someone attack or tank first while you use that Chaos to your advantage over the opponent, allowing you to be nuisance to your opponents and threat by constantly keeping your distance and abusing opponent's focus on the other player or even your comoanion.
I believe the reason why snipers and their Republic counterpart - gunslingers are played this way is to be a support DPS, who work not as an open run into the field head first type chars, but rather more trickier and secondary opponent that does stuff on second lines. Basically let someone attack or tank first while you use that Chaos to your advantage over the opponent, allowing you to be nuisance to your opponents and threat by constantly keeping your distance and abusing opponent's focus on the other player or even your comoanion.