Thx It was indeed important for the client who requested this application that it works without rules application because it caused too many issues.
Anyway, I can see the benefits of both systems, that's why rules application is supported since version 1.0.5 so all the people with automation rules can use it to create their own rules to award trophies
Anyway, if somebody is missing a criteria or if you needs some specific usecases/rules, feel free to suggest them here in this topic, or start a PM with me and I'll see what i can do for you
E.g. awarding a trophy when somebody creates a new database entry in database X or when somebody posts X posts in forum y isn't possible with the built in criteria system, but it's quite easy to provide such feature with an additional plugin