I don't know, I'd probably install new updates as I find them without asking too much questions anyway, and find out way too late that these updates break stuff.
Call it being irresponsible or lazy, but honestly, I've grown a bit tired with the update dependency chain a while ago, with early days counter-strike and DotA being the main culprits. Point is, while there's a fair bunch of things I disagree with regarding Valve's business practices (hello Steam games Quality Control), I'm still willing to accept a resonable amount of services they provide I'm OK with, automatic updates being one of them.
Anyway, it all comes down to individual tastes, and while I'm getting a bit tired by the whole "steam is ebil" line of thought, I can understand where it's coming from, so I won't argue any further in any direction.