How often do boosters drop?

[Mr. Skipperpocket]

I am really confused by this, I did read the FAQ and supposedly the new booster pack drops are supposed to be an answer to the concerns that cards are a cheap cash grab, at first I was super happy valve listened but so far I haven't gotten 1 booster pack, even though I am eligible for 5 games, anyone have any ideas why they haven't dropped? Are they just ultra-rare?
If they are super rare, they didn't really solve the problem of no card drop resets...

[dWNR.]

I got one booster the day they announced their arrival, nothing since.
With the amount I play some of these games you'd think i'd have allooooooot more.

I dont think they really exist, bra.

[DJ]

Yabblerabblereba! Glad it's not just me that struggled to make sense of the FAQ intricacies...

[Glimmer]

Drops are based on the number of badges created, it has nothing to do with play time. The drop rate has been likened to getting struck by lightning, so very rare.

If the Summer Sale has a badge that involves crafting a badge, I expect booster pack drops will sky rocket, but I wouldn't hope to much for a pack before then.

[Rugerfred]

Another thing is: you gain booster pack only while playing? Only at gaming you're elegible for? Or what?

[Glimmer]

Don't need to be playing a game. You don't even need to be signed into Steam at that moment in time.

[Iron Monkey]

Originally posted by Rugerfred:

Another thing is: you gain booster pack only while playing? Only at gaming you're elegible for? Or what?

You are elegible for each game you have your drops used up, and have to sign in steam once a week. You could be playing any game or no game at all, don't even need to be online either other than logging on once a week.

[Rugerfred]

Really? So if for pure luck i win a booster, when i log into steam, i magically found it in my inventory?
And at what rate is dropped? once a day? A week? A month?

[ZEROspawn]

So I can get the 4 cards by playing, but the last 4 I have too be lucky too get ???.
So its not really who uses steam the most or have played the most its just luck, like the lottery then ?

[Gene Jacket]

Once you get your 4 drops from playing you have to either buy the remaining 4 from the community market or convince a friend who has the ones you need to trade them to you. You also may get duplicate card drops, so once you get your first 2 card, you may well get those exact same cards again for your last 2 drops, which is kind of a crap deal if you ask me.

[Glimmer]

Originally posted by Rugerfred:

Really? So if for pure luck i win a booster, when i log into steam, i magically found it in my inventory?
And at what rate is dropped? once a day? A week? A month?

Yes, when you log in, you'll get a notification about a new item in your inventory, not unlike the one you got for cards.

The commonly held theory is that 1 booster pack is generated every time a badge is created. We're pretty sure it's not time based, but we don't have a lot of data so no one's certain.

Originally posted by ZEROspawn:

So I can get the 4 cards by playing, but the last 4 I have too be lucky too get ???.
So its not really who uses steam the most or have played the most its just luck, like the lottery then ?

You can purchase the cards. Or you could get cards from a different game and use those to trade. Or play a bunch of TF2 or some other game with tradeable items and trade/sell those drops to provide the means to acquire the remaining cards.

Many(most?) aspects of the card system are largely chance based, yes. You can influence your odds by getting higher levels (every 10 levels is 20% more likely to get a booster) or encouraging people to complete badges rather than sit on their cards.

[marcraft15]

The only problem is that after lvl 10 you need twice as much badges to get to lvl 20. So it will cost you if you want to get the slightly higher booster drop chance.

[#CuteFaceJay]

It will turn into the money game soon enough. If you don't have the cash it's gonna be hard to get them high levels.

[lingo]

I really think they need to rework this card system in some way. This is turning into how TF2 was when they first introduced drops.

[Autumn Raynefyr]

Booster packs are so rare, that they are non-existant.. T-T ..I have yet to see one at all..

[Mork]

not enough zack zero cards in the market... drop more boosters please, valve!