Quote:Note to self: Squelch!
I often find the chatter in pubbie games to be amusing, or I just don't want to bother with squelching. Hitting the N key will erase all on screen chat. I am usually interested in seeing what the people are saying, I just don't want to have my screen obscured. I use it often.
As for public games, well, I play HC on west. I've found that HC has a much smaller % of annoying players(though they ARE there, and PKing has worse consequences). You can still sometimes find legit co op players to quest or lvl with. You just need to stay away from any hydrasorc, and now, any high lvl bowazon(trigger hack).
It takes a certain type of glutton for punishment to play in public HC, but it can still be fun. Not for everyone though.
EDIT: Oh yes, also you need to stay away from any wps or enterances to towns :) As well as any suspicious people.