Exactly my point: "it wouldn't be Team Fortress would it?" It takes guts to make real changes and the removal of sniper -class would be one. If they don't have the guts, it's the same fragging game that was published some 10 years ago for Pentium 1 and 2. We can expect a bit more than that... You know: Half Life 2 class stuff.
Just speculation, of course. Have to see the manual/demo once it comes out, even though I'm almost willing to bet 10 bucks that words "Team Fortress 2 is a fast-paced team-shooter!" will appear there...