back when I started playing q2 again tdm was taken more seriously in NA, and a lot of the better players used them for armor, wep and mega pickups in duels and tdm games.I don't know that anyone outright considers them cheats/bad/evil but I do recall some regular players expressing their distaste for them because it makes timing items that much easier and leaves you with the ability to concentrate better on the opponent's location and health/armor state.To me using timer .wavs seems on par with using brightskins. It's accepted because you can't really stop it without heavily cutting into people's ability to customize their game, and it won't make you a better player by itself, just a more aware player.I think some servers have the play command disabled, but I don't know if that is the reason.
The best way I've heard of to time items using some assistance is to place a digital clock with a second counter on your desk in front of your monitor, and glance at it as you pick stuff up. Then you just have to do some quick simple math in your head to know when you need to show back up at that spot. I've heard of this being done by good players in newer games that don't allow wav timer functionality.
I think some servers have the play command disabled, but I don't know if that is the reason.
i really would have no problem at all if the clock wasnt so damn small for quake2 and i look at many pro demos of people like damiah and purri and they are using item timers... the math honestly isnt hard at all, but even though the math is easier, i find it much much easier to time on quake3 because the clock is larger, and can be told to count up...
using spiked skins or nose paks i spose pretty much anything goes