Well I agree, but it isn't that high, I haven't got one yet now being over level 10 and having played a decent amount. The normal rate of drops is about 1per hour I think

Dug a bit further apparently you are only eligable for the booster for a specific game once you've collected all the cards from the game first... only have borderland atm - better start firing up my list lol.

I haven't been near steam in a few weeks (dat lack of free time ;-;), so i don't really know what all this card stuff is :/ Are they part of the sale, or are they a new permanent feature of steam?

I have no more card drops to come in Civ V (after about 4 hours) and FM 13 (after probably more because that game is even more addictive), so I'll see how long it takes me to get some booster packs in them, I hope it is soon!

New permanent feature, essentially Valve's initiative to monetize achievement, they were smart enough to make it a free market initiative were the economy is driven by the player (they take a cut in all transaction) so there hasn't been a great deal of outrage... I don't know how I feel about it. One part of me doesn't want to care but the rest is telling me to catch them all just because.

It distinctly isn't based on achievements though, you get many of them randomly...

The interesting thing is that when you buy or sell cards, a small amount goes to Valve and then a small amount goes the developer, which does seem like a sensible move.

Having said that, I can't see it really making them that much money, they are getting about 1p per transaction. If they wanted money they could just release Half Life 3

I started off at level 11 but I had 8 years of service badge and 250+ game badge

Just a quick question here: Can I get multiple booster packs for one game? I'm thinking I can get only one but I don't remember it actually saying so anywhere in the Trading Card FAQ or any other place. It might be easy to check if I'm eligible to get another once I get one, but I can't do that because I haven't received a single booster pack yet (and I have what, four games where I'm eligible for one, soon to be even more games).

It's still not 100% clear how you get the first one, but I guess you have to, or else there wouldn't be enough cards out there would there?

You get the first booster pack randomly after you've collected all the normal drops (typically half of all the available cards). A booster pack is three cards. A typical game has eight cards and you get half of them - that is, four - as normal drops which you earn just by buying the game. Then you need the booster pack for three more drops which brings you to a total of seven cards out of eight so you still need to get one more from somewhere else. That's why I'm asking if it's possible to get a second booster pack (before completing the badge of course).