I find they need water pretty much out of the bag.
I don't water them though, I like to let them soak up water, from the bottom.
But yeah, they're usually too dry out of the bag. I get them pretty wet, they dry out to a good moistness pretty quick if they're not sitting flat, or in water.
The instructions say to soak them so thats what I do. I use a little bit of rapid start in the soaking water to help rooting along. I use regular old powdered rooting hormone that is years old and it still does the job. The trick is to keep them moist but no wet. The combination of air and water will let the cutting root faster. Ive had results in as little as a week and as much as 3.
after soaking squeeze out the majority of water leaving them moist no wet. humidity of the dome should keep them moist if you have a little water in the bottom of the tray.