Do you tend to favour the general RTP as noted by the casino/software or do you often peruse the VS payouts page and judge from those options which RTPs take your fancy? This is also something that throws me off a bit with truly knowing whether to put faith in the figures-maybe it is just luck after all

No, what I mean is, if a slot was typically quite cold/low paying for a period of time, then it hit a hot round and payed out loads-does this then increase it's RTP rating all together or are the figures listed on VS just the RTP result for that time period-like after the huge win it's RTP in X Month = 99% but the software write up says "RTP=89%" for hypothetical example-is it given that 89 is the standard/expectation that the game was designed with and 99 represents the potential it has?
I am not sure if this understanding is right either- I sometimes tend to interpret it also like say I played $100 and the RTP was 90%-does that mean there is potential to at least win back 90c for every dollar I roll? So there is chance to finish rolling with at least $90 returned?
And why oh why are some slots so hot and great RTP on one site and on a different site you go bust!? The many perils of an online slotter no doubt
I might have a looksie on the web and see whether the games I like or the ones that seem to hit huge are classed as HV/LV and the expected RTPs just to try and get my head around it a bit more. Also, I just read another thread about Reel Steal, and it said it is quite volatile-I guess that would be HV? I kinda feel like maybe the most solid to stick with would most likely be Mid Variance? I am very curious now, like you said about going bust or making little returns in heaps of spins and whether many people have certain games they always play a certain $ amount on. One for me would be Jewel Box, I always play 5 coins @ 2c, $1.50 a roll. No idea what that slots stats are, but that is just more superstition-whenever I have played that I have hit good and often so I just stick with it now! Though... have of course given back about the same as what it's payed out no doubt