Thanks, Kruphixx, for still counting me as a regular, even though I took small break from video games.
My opinion on this situation is, to return back the normal damage per single hit, and also to reduce the knockback.
I see that everyone has different decision on this topic, but I'll explain myself why do I think like that.
I think the majority will agree with me that, the thing which makes one sniper player annoying, is more likely the big knockback, instead of the damage. Since the damage was nerfed, personally I (and other people as well) don't feel satisfied playing as sniper with sniper rifles, because as expected, the damage is nerfed, and it might not sound that bad going from 450 to 350 on full shot and from 150 to 100 on quick shot, but the point of Freak Fortress is about doing damage and having fun, as well as helping your team at the same time by dealing damage, that's how you beat those hales and win the rounds, that's the main goal.
The sniper class, in general, is a hard class (except if they are playing on big maps, but even if they are playing on those maps, they can be easily targeted, and killed with the help of teleportation, super jump and etc.), and thanks to the new feature, with which if you hit with melee, you can do a big jump with sniper, it's still not guaranteed that you'll escape but it definitely helps with the movement part of the character. However, I would say it's better the OG damage to come back with decreased knockback, and with that everyone will be more satisfied with the sniper rifles, people won't complain about how broken this class is, when there isn't a big knockback, and the sniper class will be more played again.
A thing to point is that people play sniper most likely, when they are on a big map (example: vsh_dustshowdown_panda), but on medium - small maps, there are barely any snipers with sniper rifles, which means if the knockback is reduced, but the damage is back, it won't cause that much problem for the hales on any map, because at least they will move better on both the sky and the ground, instead of flying in different dimensions around the map.