I always had my niggles with TDM too, but, overall it's very good (not perfect), and, I wouldn't dare to call the developers incompetent. Actually, what they did with the Doom 3 engine is amazing. And, the item handling is some of the best I've ever seen in a game, paid or free.
The blackjacking is still my #1 problem with the game though. It's just absolutely random and unpredictable.