# STEAM level and trading card guide (wip)



## IggSter (Jul 22, 2013)

I've not seen a dedicated thread for this so I thought I would throw my hat in the ring and give this a go....

If you have info to add/change/delete please let me know and I will edit to reflect.

(if there is an established thread please let me know and I will have this removed/deleted)

Before we get to the trading card part we really need to cover 'Steam Levels'


*Steam Levels*

To see yours, when logged into the Steam client, move mouse over your Steam name and select profile.

Your level should be displayed top right.

You can now click on your level and it will take you to your 'Badges' page.

This will show you some more detail about your current Level and what is required to progress

Badges are things you earn in Steam - there are numerous ways to earn badges (covered later).

When you earn a Badge you get XP

When you get XP your level progresses until you Level up!

When you level up you get free stuff.

Minor levels seem to give 3 items - currently A Steam Summer Sale Trading card, a couple of sale specific Emoticons/Profile backgrounds
Major levels (every 5 afaik) give an additional Steam perk, so far extra friends list slots, and 'Featured' space on the profile page

So how do you get badges?

*Badges*

As mentioned there are many ways to earn Steam badges - you've have already got a few.

All badges give XP, some varying amounts (Sales ones in particular), many are multiple level so you can upgrade your badge and earn the additional XP, this is sometimes achievable by using cards.

When you 'level' a badge you get: A new Badge, and for game specific more emoticons and profile stuff and cards.

I will list the ones I know about here:

Power player                                Own 100+ games                            (Ranked?)
Steam Holiday Sale 2011                Participating in the sale                    (Varies)
Steam Summer Sale 2012               Participating in the sale                    (Varies)
Years of service                           Steam membership                           (Ranked)
Steam Holiday Sale 2012                Participating in the sale                    (Varies)
Community                                  Steam tasks                                   (Ranked)
Steam Summer Getaway                Participating in the sale + cards         (Ranked)
Game Specific                              Owning and playing                          (Ranked)

So these cards then....

*Cards*

At the moment cards seem to be generated in two ways:

By owning and playing supported Steam games
By leveling a badge or increasing your overall Steam level.

If you go to your Badges page you will see each badge that can be earned with cards.

Each Badge will require a certain number of cards to complete

You will get approx 50% of these cards by playing that game for approx 1-2hrs (it seems that this is a Steam client counter which checks to see if you are playing a card supported game every  20mins approx - you could be lucky and start a game and get a card almost immediately or you could have just missed a count and will have to wait until the next.)

There are a fixed amount of card drops per game - typically 4-5. It is possible that you could get all drops of the same card meaning you will have more cards to collect from booster drops.

When the Badge says there are no more card drops remaining as you continue to play the game you will get random booster packs for that game. These contain 3 cards. The more you play - the more you get. When you have the full set - you can now generate your new lvl2 badge and get whatever freebies Steam throws at you. It seems that each game badge has 5 levels 100-500XP.

In this process you will end up with lots of duplicates - lots!
And no doubt there will be a card that you just cant get.

*NOTE ABOUT BOOSTER PACKS!!*

TBC

*NOTE ABOUT FOIL CARDS!!*

If you are Steam level 10 or greater, any card drop has a small chance to contain a foil card. (Reports that prople are getting foil cards below lvl10 - I wonder if this is triggered by something other than Steam level)

The only differences:

They are rarer
They buy/sell for more
They create a foil collection Badge which in turn can be levelled. (more XP)

*Welcome to the community marketplace!*

Accesed either via the Community menu or via your inventory - this is basically where you can buy and sell your cards.



*Trade!!!*

Yes you can pretty much trade all this stuff.

Open chat with someone, click little arrow beside their name at the top...invite to trade. from there you can swap stuff with yer mates!

*Desktop Wallpapers!!!!* What was I thinking forgetting this!

If you click on any Badge on your badge page, you get a view of all the cards that made it - fullsize - desktop resolution. Some pretty cool artwork in there imho 















.


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## mlee49 (Jul 22, 2013)

Yay!  I'm only lvl 5 for now, but I like the new card system.

Interested in how the 'drop' system works, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.


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## IggSter (Jul 22, 2013)

mlee49 said:


> Yay!  I'm only lvl 5 for now, but I like the new card system.
> 
> Interested in how the 'drop' system works, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.



Well what I have worked out for 'game' drops:

To get your 'free' drops just play for 1-2hrs
To get your booster packs of 3 cards each you just need to have got all your free drops and remain active in Steam (the Steam wiki suggests being logged in once a week!? - I've always found drops are waiting when I exit a game) - Remember foil drops at lvl10 and over only it seems.


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## Nordic (Jul 22, 2013)

Thanks for explaining this. I have began seeing all this lately and wondered what it was about.

I do have one question. What is the point of this? Is it just another progression system? Is it somehow meant to keep you in the steam platform?


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## IggSter (Jul 22, 2013)

james888 said:


> Thanks for explaining this. I have began seeing all this lately and wondered what it was about.
> 
> I do have one question. What is the point of this? Is it just another progression system? Is it somehow meant to keep you in the steam platform?



I can only assume this is part of some grander scheme - at present it appears you can lvl very quickly - you should be able to get to lvl10 by completing the community badge and playing a few games for a couple hrs.

It also seems the market is saturated with cards (summer sale + all the initial card drops for the recently enabled games) thus on average they are available for 10p (15c, 12eu)- so you can buy your levels fairly cheaply.

I can easily emagine in-game items being built into the reward system and perhaps this is Valves way of opening this option to developers.
Will there be loyalty? A tie in for the Steam console? Beta invites? Tangible gifts? .....


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## THE_EGG (Jul 22, 2013)

Cool thanks for the info! 

I've just been selling my card things that I've earned playing games haha, now I see why people don't sell them or just buy them.


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## IggSter (Jul 22, 2013)

THE_EGG said:


> Cool thanks for the info!
> 
> I've just been selling my card things that I've earned playing games haha, now I see why people don't sell them or just buy them.



A pleasure - glad its being of some use.

I wonder if there would be any interest in a TPU card trading group on steam? hmmmm


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## AsRock (Jul 22, 2013)

card drops can be as soon as a few minutes. i was in minecraft and ran hitman and my wife wanted some help some i minimized hitman to help and a few minutes later i had a card lmao.


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## de.das.dude (Jul 22, 2013)

ahh this will be good.


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## MxPhenom 216 (Jul 22, 2013)

Just got my level 4 steam sale badge. Like a boss!


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## RCoon (Jul 22, 2013)

Managed to buy a couple of games by selling these retarded cards people pay money for 
It is beyond me why somebody would pay £3 for a digital foil card that does nothing, as opposed to buying the game while its on sale (likely for close to £3) and getting it themselves.



IggSter said:


> Remember foil drops at lvl10 and over only it seems.



I'm level 8 and got a bunch of foils already.


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## HammerON (Jul 22, 2013)

Looks like I am a level 7:





Had no idea about this "stuff"... 
I spend most of my gaming time now days on Origin playing Crysis 3 MP and BF3.


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## Deleted member 24505 (Jul 22, 2013)

I'm lvl 10 now after steam sale.


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## Absolution (Jul 22, 2013)

Some of the cards , you can get by playing the game, like witcher 2, you get 4.

Do I just have to launch the game? Or finish it again?


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## IggSter (Jul 22, 2013)

Absolution said:


> Some of the cards , you can get by playing the game, like witcher 2, you get 4.
> 
> Do I just have to launch the game? Or finish it again?



To get your free card you dont even have to play - just run the game and a card will drop approx every 20 mins until you have all your free cards. The cards you dont get will have to be added via boosters packs (still trying to work out how these drop).


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## MxPhenom 216 (Jul 22, 2013)

I am a level 12.


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## Nordic (Jul 22, 2013)

Users get bigger epeens, developers get their games bought and played for users to acquire cards, and steam gets a small cut out of all of it. Win Win Win as long as you want the epeen. Thats what this is.


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## NinkobEi (Jul 22, 2013)

Do achievements grant exp? Earlier this week I was 10xp from leveling, now I am only 1 xp away. Not sure what has changed other than achievements!


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## DannibusX (Jul 22, 2013)

HammerON said:


> Looks like I am a level 7:
> http://img.techpowerup.org/130722/Capture086758.jpg
> 
> Had no idea about this "stuff"...
> I spend most of my gaming time now days on Origin playing Crysis 3 MP and BF3.



Just to let you know.  You edited your screenname out on top, but it's still present in the comment section below.


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## HammerON (Jul 22, 2013)

Yeah I noticed that. I don't even know why I edited my username in the first place. Doesn't really matter


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## DannibusX (Jul 22, 2013)

HammerON said:


> Yeah I noticed that. I don't even know why I edited my username in the first place. Doesn't really matter



Just keepin' my eye out


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## _JP_ (Jul 23, 2013)

*Some misinformation here....*



IggSter said:


> When you level up you get *free stuff*.
> 
> Minor levels seem to give 3 items - currently A Steam Summer Sale Trading card, a couple of sale specific Emoticons/Profile backgrounds
> Major levels (every 5 afaik) give an additional Steam perk, so far extra friends list slots, and 'Featured' space on the profile page


No, you actually unlock (free?) features, since none of them have real value and aren't tangible.
Every 5 levels you get extra friends slots and from level 10 onwards, you get a showcase.
The Steam Summer Card was event-related so you can't get one from crafting once the sale is over. From crafting, you should get a background, an emoticon (both game related) and a random coupon.


IggSter said:


> *Cards*
> 
> At the moment cards seem to be generated in two ways:
> 
> ...


True for the Summer Event cards. False for regular season and every other set of cards.
Cards drop from playing the specific game that is participating in the system.
Usually 4-6 hours is enough to get all the cards for all games (I'm saying this for the ones with 10 cards).



IggSter said:


> You will get approx 50% of these cards by playing that game for approx 1-2hrs (it seems that this is a Steam client counter which checks to see if you are playing a card supported game every  20mins approx - you could be lucky and start a game and get a card almost immediately or you could have just missed a count and will have to wait until the next.)
> 
> There are a fixed amount of card drops per game - typically 4-5. It is possible that you could get all drops of the same card meaning you will have more cards to collect from booster drops.


Not quite.
The sets vary by size. You always get 50% of the set from regular playtime, the remaining must be obtained trough other methods. If the total number of the set is an odd number, you get 50%  of the cards, adjusted by excess.
Yes, duplicates can/will happen (hence the motivation to trade them), it seems some cards have higher odds of dropping, but this hasn't been confirmed. It's just based on what I've seen so far.



IggSter said:


> When the Badge says there are no more card drops remaining as you continue to play the game you will get random booster packs for that game. These contain 3 cards. The more you play - the more you get.


Booster packs are random drops that are related to how many days/how much time per day your steam account is active. It's random and you only get booster packs for the games you are eligible (the ones you've already ran dry on drops). Every 10 levels, your odds at getting a booster pack increase by a small percentage.



IggSter said:


> *Welcome to the community marketplace!*
> 
> Accesed either via the Community menu or via your inventory - this is basically where you can buy and sell your cards.


Here's my tip for anyone new to the market, *don't rush it!*
Check prices, analyze the price tendency (there's a graph for every item). If the cards are selling fast, you can try to sell for a bit more than the guy with the cheapest price. This market is far from saturated (unless a specific item is selling slow) so BE PATIENT!
I've had items selling overnight, that were listed on the 2nd or 3rd page.
Not all items are a quick sell, so above all, keep checking prices, don't forget to re-list if prices suddenly sunk (if you want to).


james888 said:


> I do have one question. What is the point of this?


IMO, it is to extract more money from people with e-peen related issues, severe cases of OCD or people that crave attention and need this to stand out. It's funny how Valve passes this along making it sound like a harmless kid's game (it kind of is, but it can get out of hand very easily).


THE_EGG said:


> I've just been selling my card things that I've earned playing games haha, now I see why people don't sell them or just buy them.





RCoon said:


> Managed to buy a couple of games by selling these retarded cards people pay money for
> It is beyond me why somebody would pay £3 for a digital foil card that does nothing, as opposed to buying the game while its on sale (likely for close to £3) and getting it themselves.


Aye. I've also been selling all cards, since beta. The ones worth +30c€nts in the market. Thanks to that, I only had to add 5€ to my steam wallet to make obligatory purchases, this summer.



IggSter said:


> *NOTE ABOUT FOIL CARDS!!*
> 
> If you are Steam level 10 or greater, any card drop has a small chance to contain a foil card. (Reports that prople are getting foil cards below lvl10 - I wonder if this is triggered by something other than Steam level)
> 
> ...





RCoon said:


> I'm level 8 and got a bunch of foils already.


During the beta, foil cards were restricted to level 10+ users. Their drop rate was extremely low. Half-way during the beta the rules were changed, so that all users could get foil cards. Still, the higher you Steam level is, the more chance you have to get a foil card.

The OP should have a link to the actual Steam Trading Cards FAQ.

EDIT: Also have to add (it isn't mentioned here) that F2P games (like Dota 2 and TF2 (those playing the F2P version of TF2)), that are participating in the steam trading cards, only grant you with card drops for every 9$ you spend in-game (micro-transactions).

EDIT2: Also not mentioned here is that with every 10 levels it takes an additional 100xp to level-up. So, until level 10, it takes 100xp to level-up, from level 10 to level 20, it takes 200xp and so on...


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## NinkobEi (Jul 23, 2013)

_JP_ said:


> *No, you actually get free features, since none of them have real value and aren't tangible.*
> Every 5 levels you get extra friends slots and from level 10 onwards, you get a showcase.
> The Steam Summer Card was event-related so you can't get one from crafting once the sale is over. From crafting, you should get a background, an emoticon (both game related) and a random coupon.



Some of the backgrounds (Skyrim) sell for $3 and one emoticon sells for almost a buck. Just from the Summer Getaway series. That's tangible!


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## _JP_ (Jul 23, 2013)

NinkobEi said:


> Some of the backgrounds (Skyrim) sell for $3 and one emoticon sells for almost a buck. Just from the Summer Getaway series. That's tangible!


No, it isn't. Money you make from items on the steam market never leave your steam wallet, nor can the items be used anywhere else. Items/features can be unlocked for free if you spend enough time trading and never using the market.
Values in the market aren't based on anything. It's just something that is there, driven by some speculation and setting prices until someone buys the item.
Its aim is people that are either lazy to find other people to trade cards or just want a badge really bad, no matter the expense.


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## AsRock (Jul 23, 2013)

_JP_ said:


> No, it isn't. Money you make from items on the steam market never leave your steam wallet, nor can the items be used anywhere else. Items/features can be unlocked for free if you spend enough time trading and never using the market.
> Values in the market aren't based on anything. It's just something that is there, driven by some speculation and setting prices until someone buys the item.
> Its aim is people that are either lazy to find other people to trade cards or just want a badge really bad, no matter the expense.



All so there to make money too.  Sure not a great deal but it's highly possible and it can take much more time selling \ buying than asking around but does depend on the card.


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## Deleted member 24505 (Jul 23, 2013)

I've got a chivalry foil, price is about £1.50, going up though


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## RCoon (Jul 23, 2013)

tigger said:


> I've got a chivalry foil, price is about £1.50, going up though



Keep hold of it, sell it in 3 months time.


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## _JP_ (Jul 23, 2013)

AsRock said:


> All so there to make money too.  Sure not a great deal but it's highly possible and it can take much more time selling \ buying than asking around but does depend on the card.


Sites like TF2Outpost are a great place to announce card trades to who's interested.
The market ends-up being the means, for those that don't care about this system, to score some extra cash on the side (that can only be used in steam) and for the ones I already mentioned when it comes to acquiring the cards.


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## Nordic (Jul 24, 2013)

I wonder if this will end up being just a fad or have any holding power.


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## NinkobEi (Jul 24, 2013)

james888 said:


> I wonder if this will end up being just a fad or have any holding power.



If I were a server at a restaurant and someone offered me $10 in bitcoins or $10 in steam trading cards as a tip, I would go with the trading cards.


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## _JP_ (Jul 24, 2013)

Well, this is interesting...


> Hand on heart I didn't actually realise when I did the update that cards/badges cost money and were so hard to get. The documents I read never mentioned anything about payments and I thought I understood how it worked and therefore didn't look into any further.


Source.

It...it shouldn't be like that...at all.

So here's the thing. From the moment these cards were announced (or when I got in the beta), the way it was advertised about how you could obtain them led me to think that it was free, or paid as a last resort (because you could also get them from the market). Guess it didn't turn out that way. The fact that you can sell the cards in the market seems to have become the main way to get rid of/obtain cards (almost)...instead of trading, which is free. (going by what the dev said, up there) 
Some cards have above 10k stock available (summer cards go over 30k)...
See what I meant with "getting out of hand".
Of course, I think this was planned by valve, since they get 13%~15% of every sale on the market.


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## NinkobEi (Jul 24, 2013)

_JP_ said:


> Well, this is interesting...
> 
> Source.
> 
> ...



I think you misread that. What he's saying is, Beat Hazard made special in-game ships that are unlocked by crafting badges. Each badge takes a full set of cards, as you probably know. They had two ships that were only unlockable at 3 and 5 badges (thats a lot of cards). I can see why people were outraged at that. Pretty greedy on their part.

When you buy/sell you will notice the 15% tax on cards. Well it also tells you how the split is divided. The game devs make 10% on all the trading cards sold. Valve makes 5%.


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## _JP_ (Jul 24, 2013)

I don't think I misread it.


NinkobEi said:


> What he's saying is, Beat Hazard made special in-game ships that are unlocked by crafting badges.


Yes, and...


> I didn't actually realise when I did the update that cards/badges cost money and were so hard to get.


With an added...


> The documents I read never mentioned anything about payments and I thought I understood how it worked and therefore didn't look into any further.


Meaning he was led to believe all the cards could be obtained for free (the documents were, most likely, valve's sent description of the scheme to developers that wanted their games to be part of it), some with drops from playtime, the remaining from trading. Which doesn't seem to be happening. Users seem want it all and want it now, aren't willing to go on the enduring task of looking for other users with cards to trade and feel ripped off that they have to resort to get cards from the market, hence pay, to get the ships (which should be free...and still is)(it isn't by their own choice).
I think the mistake here is adding content based on the badges. It was a neat idea, somewhat, as it gave an actual reward from getting those badges, if the system worked as it should. Cards shouldn't be allowed to be sold on the market.
Either that, or users seriously need to realize that they're paying for commodity and not blame the devs for what they though was a just reward for getting the game's badge and participating in the trading cards system. It isn't greedy if there's still a means to get it for free.


Also, I don't think that's how the split goes...have you got source on that, please? I'd like to read about it.


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## NinkobEi (Jul 24, 2013)

There's nothing that says you can't trade cards. They dont have to be purchased. Steam has a free trading system and plenty of chatrooms. With so many games out there you could easily get enough cards to trade for 5 badges. It would be a pain in the ass sure, but it's doable. It would probably be easier to just sell the cards from other games that you earn and buy the Beat Hazard ones. Then you would be supporting the devs of all the games with cards, which will help them put out more games, which is a good thing. 

The source is in steam when you go to buy something. Not much to read.


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## _JP_ (Jul 24, 2013)

NinkobEi said:


> The source is in steam when you go to buy something. Not much to read.
> http://i.imgur.com/9h6pfI9.png


I see, thank you.
Never bought a thing on the market, so I was unaware of how it was split.


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