You know, Invisible_XXI pretty much hit it right on the head. Everyone is pissing and moaning about this and that, but ultimately most of you are concerned with your records. This is partially why I don't really even play anymore. There are a lot of elitist attitudes here, and ultimately this will lead to the demise of this game...then your records will not matter because nobody will be playing. I know several people that purchased this game, but due to the horrible treatment they received in multiplayer, the game mostly sits on their shelves. In fact, I LAN with several people. We all love Demigod, but only two of them play online now outside of LAN play.
You guys crack me up with your "pro" talk and hubub, when most of you guys have the ratings that you have due to stacking/pre-mading against new players in the first place. I used to play professionally (FPS games) and the egos weren't even remotely as big as I see in this game. Let alone, by having uber stats, what are you winning? NOTHING! So go ahead and pad your stats and brag to your faceless internet buddies...hell, go get yourself a cookie while you're at it! To those of you that make pre-mades and explicitly advertise for pre-mades, this is not directed to you. It is not your fault when new players join your games not knowing any better...kick away, but let them know why and don't be an arse about it. If you're pugging, then pug. Help the new people and try to nurture the community, not poison it with this belief that you can only play with people that have a 60%+ win percentage. It's hard enough to get games as it is sometimes...
Pre-mades will happen. There is no avoiding it. It's the simple fact that if you have friends that play, you will make a "pre-made" at some point or another. This is a TEAM based game, so expect to see TEAMS playing people. I personally don't have much issue with pre-mades unless the host specifically asks for no pre-mades and you join. My problem, as stated before, is the elitism displayed by most players and hopping around to team stack on pugs. Screw your stats (THEY DON'T MATTER EXCEPT FOR IN YOUR ARROGANT LITTLE HEADS), have some fun and give some of the newer or "less skilled" players a chance too...otherwise you're going to be playing a lot of single player.