What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “level up?” It’s safe to say that most people would happily exclaim, “Video games!” Then, the gamer might describe the process of moving up a level in their favorite games or possibly other skills they’re working on improving. You may or may not think of Steam in particular concerning “leveling up.”
When you “level up,” it fills you with a sense of accomplishment. You’ve reached that coveted next stage and achieved a bit of personal satisfaction. Steam has attempted to replicate this effect by adding levels to their gaming library platform. This feature grants you perks and prestige for every attained milestone you achieve in Steam.
What You Earn by Leveling Up on Steam
A list of what you earn through Steam leveling includes the following:
- Increased Friends List: Your Steam friends list is set to 250 slots by default. With every Steam level earned, this number increases by five additional slots. So far, there is no confirmed maximum to this list.
- Additional Steam Showcase Slots: A showcase will display various milestones for which you feel most proud. The accomplishments appear near the top of your profile and are choosable from a list of milestones you’ve achieved.
You unlock one additional showcase slot for every ten levels acquired. This accomplishment does not affect the number of slots visible but does affect other types you’re able to display. There are a total of 16 different showcase types to choose from, and you can set them in any way that you’d like.
- Increased Booster Pack Chances: Once you reach level 10 on your Steam profile, booster packs become available with a 20% chance to earn one. This opportunity means you’re eligible to receive a booster pack containing three random cards from the game’s set once all possible cards get acquired for that game.
Every ten levels will double your chances to receive a booster pack. Booster packs are randomly awarded to eligible users every time a Steam community member crafts a badge.
The Basics of Experience (XP) Acquisition
What you should know before acquiring more XP:
- Badges award the most XP, so you’ll want to craft as many as possible. Each one can be leveled up four times and will net you 100 XP apiece.
- You can craft Badges via the trading cards you acquire from the games you play most on Steam.
- You can only collect a half-set of trading cards from playing any one game. To obtain the remaining portion of that game’s card set, you’ll need to either trade for or purchase them on the Steam marketplace.
- After crafting a game’s badge, you may receive a booster pack depending on your current Steam level. This booster pack will contain three random cards. Every ten levels you attain will grant you a 20% increase in a booster pack’s drop rate.
Ways to Level-Up on Steam
Perhaps you’ve purchased so many games over the years, and it’s barely registered a dent in your score. Every Steam user has a level, but most are uncertain about what steps are needed to gain more. With higher levels granting each user more bonuses, it may be time to understand the methods to level up on Steam.
Method 1: Level-Up on Steam without Playing
You need not purchase nor play any games on Steam to craft a game’s badge. This may come as a shock to some but it’s true. You can trade for or purchase the necessary cards off of the Steam marketplace instead. 
That’s right. To level up quickly on a gaming platform, you don’t even need to buy or play games. You don’t have to spend money either in order to level up. What a peculiar setup!
Regardless, if you don’t know which cards to buy or trade for, you won’t get very far in your leveling up endeavors. Knowledge of how Steam works is the key to making progress.
Method 2: Use Steam Tools to Level Up
To get things rolling on badge creation and the following XP storm, you should first take a look at Steam Tools. Here you can find a list of card sets for sale.
The list displays the name of the set, the average price on the Steam marketplace, the discount amount, and when it was posted. You can use the many filters to find the cheapest sets and hide those that you’ve already crafted.
By using Steam Tools you can save ample amounts of time with the whole process as opposed to purchases being made directly on Steam.
Steam Tools also has a nifty little feature that will help put the cost of the whole leveling process into perspective. The level-cost calculator will provide an approximation for how much you’ll need to spend on card purchases to reach the desired level.
Though quite useful, it doesn’t take into account the amount of XP you can or have earned through non-card badges or Steam sales (more on these later).
Method 3: Level Up through Crafting
Crafting offers more than just XP. For every badge crafted, you receive three random items. These items can be things like emoticons and profile backgrounds, among other things. You may feel that these options hold no value and are better discarded and forgotten.
Not so fast! These particular items may not hold any appeal to you, but as they say, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”
The items can be sold in the Steam Marketplace for a pretty decent penny depending on demand. Though you’re creating badges from the most popular, more recent games, the items will likely only net you a few cents apiece.
You can take the gains from what you’d already considered junk and reinvest them into additional badges. Anything not picked up on the marketplace can get broken down into gems from which you can create booster packs for additional cards. It can be a continuous cycle of XP if you work it right.
Method 4: Earn Steam Badges without Card Sets
There are a few ways that you can earn badges without the need for card sets. Earning the Game Collector badge is automatic once a certain number of games are accumulated in your Steam library. This process begins with your first purchase and continues to level as you add more games. For those of you who drop cash on games during the sales but still haven’t touched them, well, this is your reward.
The “Pillar of Community” badge gets crafted through a few remedial tasks done on Steam. Review a game or vote on a “Greenlight” project, and you may find this badge awarded to your profile. The badge can also get leveled up one additional time for more XP, so it may be in your particular interest to participate. By heading to the “Badges” section of your Steam profile, you can find a list of all the tasks required.
Method 5: Use Unauthorized Level-Up Methods
The Steam Subscriber Agreement dictates that “You may not use cheats, automation software (bots), mods, hacks, or any unauthorized third-party software, to modify or automate any Subscription Marketplace process.” However, if you feel the reward is worth the risk, you can check out several Steam level-up sources.
Option 1: Use the Steam Card Exchange to Level Up
The Steam Card Exchange has an automated Trading Bot that helps trade all of your duplicate cards for others that you need.
Option 2: Use the Reddit Steam Trading Cards Community
If you’re not embarrassed by the possibility of getting caught using automation software, Reddit has an option for you as well. Head on over to the Steam Trading Cards community and take a look at what they have to offer. Two recommended games include Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and Team Fortress 2 (TF2).
- Purchase a tradeable key by heading to OPSkins and catching one for around $2.
- Locate an offer on the Steam Trading Cards Reddit community with either a 20:1 for CS:GO or 16:1 for TF2. This ratio indicates that they are willing to provide you 20 (or 16) sets of cards for one tradeable key.
- Add the bot listed to your friends’ list on Steam.
- Open a chat between yourself and the bot, and type in “!check.” Ignore the period. This step tells you if the sets promised on the Reddit post are available at this time. If all looks well, type in “!help.” Exclude the period. This entry displays a list of commands from which to choose.
- Locate the trade command and input it into the text field.
- The bot will commence with the trade, and the sets should appear in your profile.
- From the Steam profile, click on “Badges.” Begin crafting badges from the newly acquired sets.
You can repeat the above process to accumulate a great deal of XP!
Steam Level-Ups: Options to Avoid for Fast Leveling
Foils Are a Waste of Time for Fast Leveling
Foils are ‘pretty’ collector’s item versions of the standard Steam trading cards. However, if speedy leveling is your goal, then going after foils for badge creation is not in your best interest. At least, not if you’re crafting them yourself. As shiny and rare as they are, foil cards serve no direct purpose to fast leveling.
A badge crafted using a foil card will earn the same 100 XP as a badge crafted from non-foils. The kicker is that there are plenty of collectors out there that are willing to pay handsomely for them.
Any foil you come across should be sold in the Steam Marketplace because foils sell for much more than the regular versions. Any cash you receive through the sales of foil cards is best reinvested into several cheaper, regular cards. By using this method, you can reach your leveling goals much faster, which is a lot better than leveling up slowly!
Capitalizing On Steam Sales
So you’ve collected a bunch of sets and are now ready to begin crafting. I mean, it’s the next most logical step, right? Technically yes, but you may want to hold off until a big Steam Summer or Winter sale approaches.
The reason for this is that all badges crafted during game sales events award you with bonus Steam event cards. These bonus cards can then get crafted into event-specific badges, each of which can continuously level up during the sale period. That’s an endless amount of XP you can accumulate across a large stretch of time.
You can (and should) go all-in on leveling up your profile, as the best time to level up is during one of these events, hands down.
Do you know of any tricks or tips for leveling up faster in Steam? If so, please tell us about them in the comments section below!
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