Having the lines can help, yes. I think dot grid may be nicer with lighter ink colors, but since I like being able to read my notes six months later, I haven't experimented much there. :) (For me, as long as there's some indicator, I can manage to write fairly evenly.)
I'm mostly doing mine as an art project, so I like the way the dots fade into the background and become invisible. They also help with drawing. But my writing just lists upwards inexorably without a firm line to guide it. LOL
I keep wishing to add art to my journal pages and not quite getting there. Using a dot grid was meant to encourage it. :P Here's the last attempt, which predates having a paper journal of this kind. (I began taking knitting to the standing meetings during which I'd made those doodles, and then the doodles stopped. I think the knitting bothered my colleagues less.)
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They look very soothing to draw.
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