I doubt it is something as straight as "only ppl who got refunds get early drops", because I'm 95% sure I got a couple of cards before the 2 hours, but let's see.

I'm running some tests now (I have requested a few refunds, none pending right now). Basically, idling for games individually:

(will update the list below)
Cubicle Quest - 52 minutes - 0 drops - got key from IndieGala's Hump Day #1 (I think the cards were just added today)
Cubicle Quest finished dropping with 2.5 h

Most likely answer is that we theorize too much as if Steam/Valve weren't a chaotic bio-cyber-ethereal entity ;)

Początkowo opublikowane przez Big Pink Bunny:

I hope this screenshot will help you: http://imgur.com/aCTb8IF - 1 card drops from each game

Yeah, I think I got one drop while playing another game.

Początkowo opublikowane przez Uncle77:

Has anyone looked to see if Steam cards have trading restrictions on them, as well as those from off steam purchases ?

Mine don't, I can put them right into the market. I think what happens is a Steam bug that sometimes drops the first card in like less than 30 minutes, and after that it "remembers" to check the 2 hours, then it blocks drops again until the 2h... Idk...

Początkowo opublikowane przez atogmuncher:

I think you have to have the account eligible to place things in the marketplace to get the fast drops, i.e you had to spend money in steam on the account (like the new $5 requirement to unlock functions like trade that before you only had to gift the account a game to do so).

That's definitely not it, because I don't have that limitation ;)

Hmm, it seems like I'm not getting drops before 2h, I think (from bundled and store games)... Maybe it was a bug and they've fixed it?

Początkowo opublikowane przez AKAH!:

10 hours.
http://i.imgur.com/uoKccY5.png

Face it - Orlygift
I, Zombie - Steam Store
Metal Slug 3 - Steam Store
Metro 2033 Redux - Steam Store
Metro: Last Light Redux - Steam Store

So you got 0 cards? And you didn't have them all playing at the same time? Weird.

I know it won't save time if you're just idling, buuuut it's useful (or was, now, if those changes are not a mistake) to get the 2h while you're actually playing a game on Steam. Before this new update, I used to skip games with over 2h (and then not on the previous update, because of that bug that has been fixed ;) )

Is this why it now ignores the "idle all games to 2 hours first, then individually" option? Or does it do that because I have one game which is already over 2h and one that has 0h (regardless of the option I choose, it idles the one that's over 2h)?