I can't really say Steam sales are shit because deals from Amazon, GMG, Humble Bundle, et al. are what they are because of Steam(works). But the Steam sales are kinda bad nowadays.
Spec Ops was $5 on Amazon a month or so ago. Now it's $10 as a daily deal during the biggest sale. Stuff like that makes it less exciting. I'm not saying these games aren't worth more money, but I'm less likely to buy and add them to my backlog.
I haven't bought anything from steam. I got Dead Island from Amazon and FTL from the humble store.
And no meta game stuff where you're 'forced' to play trash like Poker Night at the Inventory or And Yet it Moves for tickets or whatever. oh