NuclearKangaroo said:
yes its damage at medium range is comparable to the shotgun... except it fires twice as fast and reloads faster
the wider bullet spread of the other shotugns actually make it harder to use it effectively at long range, like i said, the advantage of the ST is that you can effectively attack the enemy at medium range with it, yes you can do more damage with other shotguns at point blank, you you are also an easier target, a soldier for instance, can instakill you with a direct hit at close range
the shortstop is fine
The reload time was nerfed, it's effective DPS, taking into account firing and reload time, is comparable to the regular shotgun at medium range - the regular shotgun is a soldier, pyro and engineer secondary and it has comparable DPS to the shortstop which is a main weapon.
Secondly, Only an idiot would stand right in front of a soldier and take a rocket to the face and a single rocket is not an instakill unless it crits.
You have literally no idea what you are talking about, if anything, medium range makes you more of a target for some classes, snipers can kill you easier at medium range (The stock scattergun and BFB drop snipers in melee range quicker than they can switch to melee from sniper rifle), Pyros who use the reserve shooter can out damage you at medium range if you are jumping, Soldiers would rather you at medium range because unless they are using the gunboats, firing in front of them or at their feet puts themselves at risk, demomen who use stickies pretty much rely on you being at medium range.
The shortstop is not fine, that is why NO tournament scout uses one. It allows you to damage at medium range, not as effectively as you seem to think, but requires you to have almost perfect aim and even with perfect aim the damage range, fall off and randomised pellet spread are a big bag of RNG - even at point blank range the shortstops damage in 4 shots can go: 88 -> 44 -> 7 -> 144 (crit).
It has serious problems and it is far worse than both the stock scattergun and the baby face blaster (after it's buff), some would even argue that the soda popper and force of nature are also better. There is no point using it when you could be far more effective just using a different scattergun, The shortstop is usable but you are severely gimping yourself by using it over one of the other options, it needs a buff... any decent scout will tell you this.
EDIT: I got some of my statistics from one of my most played servers.
Shortstop: My Kill Death Ratio is 3.55, my Assist Death Ratio is 4.12. Highest Killstreak = 48.
Baby Face Blaster: My Kill Death Ratio is 7.49, my Assist Death Ratio is 9.07. Highest Killstreak = 80
I have been using the Shortstop since it was part of the Milkman set, I used it before the reload nerf and after. I got a strange one eventually and added doms, destructions and snipers killed to it, I am up to 18,206 kills, 1006 dominations, 1009 destructions and 2622 snipers killed.
I have been using my Baby Face Blaster for a mere 4 days and it has already recorded 2692 kills, 402 soldiers killed, 203 dominations and Damage dealt: 528212.