Sort of funny thing about Starcraft is even with SC2 out now, competition generally still prefers the original SC due to Blizzard dropping LAN capabilities out of SC2. Treemonster: I completely forgot about D2 and Starcraft but you are right, both have little to no support anymore, both are free to play, and both still have pretty strong communities. Tl dr, they are not weapon upgrades, they are alternative weapons that can be situational and should be considered sidegrades, there are very few actual upgrades in TF2 (like the Axtinguisher and Power Jack compared to the fireaxe, or the amputator compared to the bonesaw), most are sidegrades at best.

The fish is useless (beyond humor value that is), sandman is pretty bad (it can be useful and helpful, but the drop in health makes you even more fragile). His Bonk is very situational, Crit-a-cola is not that great, the mad milk is good for teamplay and self-healing when you need it, but the pistol is much more versatile overall. A good scattergun scout will dominate a good shortstop scout. The FaN is useless, the shortstop is good if you can aim and it allows you to fight at a farther distance (making it a bit of a safer option), but the scattergun is still really powerful up close. Look at the scout, his stock loadout is better in 90% of situations than any of his other unlocks. Just because a weapon is available in the store doesn't mean it is better than the original. They are not upgrades (or at least they shouldn't be viewed as upgrades), they are weapon unlocks. I couldn't care less about the hats and junk, but weapon upgrades at 50 cents a pop are a treat.

I love the little store they have where you can buy items. I don't play TF2 much, but I always have fun when I do.

Tf2 the value of teamwork