Hi! First of all, I would like to say that I have OCD and autistm, so having hobbies where collecting rare things is important was always part of my life, and Steam Badges are no different. I love Valve and Steam (and I love you too, Lord Gaben, hehe <3), but I always thought Foil Badges were underlooked. Yes, they are rare, but their rarity, in my honest opinion, should come with some benefits, too, am I wrong? Because it is so hard (and expensive) to craft a Foil Badge, and it only gives 100 XP.

I suggest to to give Foil Badges unique multiplier, like 1% (or even 0.1%) permanent XP boost (of course, retroactive boost). What does this mean? If you craft 10 Foil Badges, you will have +10% XP gain retroactively.

Example: You have 100,000 XP, you crafted 10 Foil Badges.
100,000 + 1,000 (10 Foil Badges x 100 XP) = 101,000 + 10% XP boost = 111,100 XP.

You may also increase base XP of Foil Badges, too, to 250 XP, for example, but I think 1% is sufficient number. Why? Because the more XP you have, the more XP you gain from Foil Badges, so in theory, the more Badges / Foil Badges you craft, the more XP gain, therefore the higher your level, the more beneficial it becomes for you to craft Foil Badges. And Foil Badges only has 1 level, so you will run out of them sooner or later, so it will increase the demand of Foil Trading Cards, older and rarer Foil Badges would also become/feel more rare, because you will get more XP for being a long-time loyal fan of Steam. Now we wouldn't hesitate if we should spend 10-100$ for a Foil Badge, it would come naturally that we JUST SHOULD DO IT!

Personally, I think this is a brilliant idea, this will increase demand of expensive and rare Foil Trading Cards, and will make their price logical for collectors, because it will benefit as a long-time investment, but of course, I am open to other people's opinions and suggestions, please, by any means, share your thoughts with me.