Update about the Scout update #3

I love it when Valve basically reveal three things in one update.

Pay note to the background image: the new game mode will clearly be some sort of Payload race, since there are two cart tracks, one in red and one in blue. Intriguing! I'm definitely looking forward to hearing more about it, the idea definitely sounds fun, at least it's not about the same old attack-defense mechanic.
And the second one: that is not the Scattergun the Scout's holding in the image. It looks similar at first glance, but if you look closer, you can see that it's not the same, it's missing the round chamber of Scattergun, and it looks shorter. It rather looks like a regular sawed-off shotgun. AND when you check out the achievements, there's "Fall Classic" which sports some kind of a buzzsaw in its image. OH I WONDER...

ILU Valve.

Scout unlockables? Curious about the mechanics of the Sandman, will probably start using it (if I ever manage to get it, that is. I'm not the greatest Scout, so getting the achievements might be a bit trickier than with other classes) because I'm not a very jumpy Scout anyhow, and the Energy Drink seems interesting as well. I kinda dislike the pistol since it's got so ridiculously low ammo, but I use it a lot to finish off enemies out of Scattergun range and - naturally - take potshots at distant sentries, so I don't know if I want to replace it. And if a sawed-off shotgun replaces Scattergun I'm extremely curious to hear about its tradeoff, since Scattergun is basically a sawed-off shotgun: both are defined by the larger spread. It also bothers me that they would look so similar, and Valve's been careful to make the unlockable weapons look different from the regular ones. Maybe it IS the Scattergun in the image, idk, I just can't see the round chamber no matter how I look at it.
Conjecture, conjecture, we'll see once it's officially revealed.

And I love the subtle slap on the wrist of all exploiters: see the Announcer's post on the official TF2 blog. There are so many reasons to go "ILU Valve" right now.

Wtf.

Okay, am I just missing something here, or has there always been room for stats of a tenth class in tf2_playerstats.dmx?
I mean I'm quite sure that it wasn't there the last time I checked the file: that the stats ended on Engineer, and there was no "iPlayerClass" "10".
It could be that I'm just remembering wrong, wouldn't be the first time I've overlooked something like that.

So, um, does anyone know what it's all about, or are we now allowed to be pretty sure that there'll be a tenth class sooner or later?

My money's on the VIP.

ETA: Ha! I was RIGHT! The tenth class stats haven't always been there!

And oh yeah: this blog has a fuckload of hits every month, and while I know that most of them are probably me, and many are random hits from Google or wherever, there is still way too much traffic considering that I can name maybe 5-10 people who actually read this thing.
So, um, speak up, please, if you're actually reading this blog. You can comment anonymously, I think, and I'd love to hear if total strangers actually enjoy my tiresome babblings.