Back when I started playing TF2 6 years ago (call me an oldy or seasoned TF2 gamer, whatever) the scout, or the commonly known death machine of today, would barely take up place on the kill/information notification section on the upper right hand corner of the screen, why? Because scouts barely killed.

The scout was never a killer, but more a decoy or distraction for combat support, or of course the "capper" of the team. Scouts move faster, jump higher and twice as much (Literally), and could make an entire game with the sandman and bonk. The scout's decoy ability would provide an indirect support to the rest of the assault team following close behind. A scout could jump over and behind heavys, drink bonk to take all the fire of a sentry gun, and even distract an entire defence team. With the distraction of the scouts, the assualt team could easily charge in and destroy buildings, and wipe out defence details. Scouts being faster and having their double jump ability, they could capture the intel, or simply be the annoyance to the players trying to stop the intel stealer. Another usefull ability of the scout, is the double capture rate for capture points or the payload cart. In the old days, scouts were just like a fly, buzzing around to distract the enemy players.

Most scouts do still capture intel and capture points, but now, they have changed their tactics majorly. Scouts are no longer the near-harmless captains of the distraction team, but now seen right along their attacking teammates, shooting just as much or even more. Scouts can now easily be seen with the top score, and top kills due to their smaller hit box, faster speed, and double jump. The scout's scattergun, was never originally intended for the scout to have (screw you valve), the SMG was intended for the scout and sniper. Instead of following their original plan, (once again, screw you valve) scouts were given the scattergun, with the power of the stock shotgun and same mag size, the scouts can now just mow down almost every single class at point blank range with 2 shells. Most of you modern scouts out there, if you're reading this, I hope you choke on your mistake weapon you call your scattergun. To the rest of us, we've had to counter this new over-powered annoyance with new tactics. I know I'm not the only one when I say I've been (sadly) dominated by these new battle scouts. Most of us TF2 players from the old days will look at the scouts and frown, knowing they will come up right in your face, or behind (cowards) and just blast you away.

Scouts who have Hale's own scatterguns and such, I hope you choke on them. I know I cannot change scouts back to the way they once were, but I do hope to all you sensable scouts out there, stop being such an Over-powered maggot and use weapons like the shortstop and other weaker guns just to damage, and please, stop being that one jerk who has 5 dominations with a 30-0 Kill to death ratio.