You obviously misunderstood why they made badges / cards in the first place.

Except people would just cheat to get the achievements.

I think cards are partly tied to achievements because I played Fortix 2 for some time (yes, I actually played it) and it took me around 3 hours to get 3 cards. I didn't get any achievements because I have most of them already. BUT I played Saints Row 3 for about an hour, got 3 achievements and got 3 cards. Same thing with Dead Island - I played it for an hour, got like 5 achievements and all cards. My friends tell the same - they get cards faster when they get achievements. So I think it's partly connected.

A) The cards are not a reward for "good" players

B) Valve clearly stated they wont tie it to certain achievements as they dont want people cheat for the achievements just to get cards

C) "You can't cheat for the vast majority of achievements." This statement is so wrong...ask SAM

Your arguments are nonsense. Here's why:

• People who only want the cards don't play anyway. They just idle at the title page, so they aren't hurting anyone's play experience.
• If Steam achievements were used for card drops, people would just SAM them instead of actually playing.
• People who didn't SAM them would only play the game to get the necessary achievements, just like they did when these were part of sales events in the past. Those people really would join games and shit them up with terrible play because they only care about getting the achievement and getting out. They wouldn't give a fuck about your play experience.

Also, as Lorkhan hinted at, the trading card update was just a cash grab by Valve anyway. They're just sitting back and enjoying the increased sales on games with cards and the cut they get from the market where people are buying and selling them. They don't really care about improving players' experiences or getting more players active or whatever else you think it was meant to accomplish.

just going to leave this here

PS: I hate linking on SG

"Valve could have tied steam levels/badges/cards to the steam achievements..."

Ok. I don't use SAM to get all achievements, btw. Just pointing out that this kind of thing exists.

Players now are just installing games to get cards, NOT primarily to have fun playing the game. This encourages that group of online players that everyone hates that ruins team based games because they don't care how they play, they just play until they get their card drops. LAME.

you can get cards just by opening the game and leave it on the menu, you don't need to actually play ^^

Who has time to get achievements?

I have 800 hours logged in Football Manager 2012 (the internal game counter says over 1000, and that one is more likely correct), and do you know how many achievements I have? 69 out of 91.

Gabe likes the quote from Tony Montana probably, and he's doing that way :D

"players installing games just to get cards" - you summed it up yourself, that's the whole point of adding cards for game devs

Actually, I agree with you. I love achievements and would love if them actually start to mean something. I was so happy when I got to level 10 and saw that I could use the achievement case. :c

It's actually encouraged me to open up some of my games I've been meaning to get to. Sometimes I play a bit and discover I don't care for the game so I just leave it idling at the start screen until I get my badge drops, other times I actually like the game and play through and finish it.

So I actually play through the games I like, while still being able to get the cards from games I don't really care for. Sounds like a good deal for me. Admittedly I'm not in it for the badges but the free steam money from selling cards.

TLDR: Steam achievement manager, your theory is useless.

SAM

Serious SAM ruins anything involving achievements.

achivement by serverside will be a "problem" for people that can't have internet up all the time or don't have it..

SAMthing is wrong with your suggestion.