I see the advantages for beginners to having inexpensive kits, which inherently means lesser quality platings. When I started, I was mostly concerned about the cost of each kit. But as I've progressed, I've realized that if I'm going to be putting all this time and effort into creating a quality pen that will hold up for a long time (which is my goal with each pen I make), I want components that will hold up as well. I have thus moved on from the 10K kits generally, and have started buying TiGold and other, more durable platings for the various kits.
My concern is similar to what Russ expressed; imagine that I'm at a show and my pen is held next to someone else's. Let's take Russ, for example. Now, I'm sure Russ's pens are at least as well crafted as mine in every respect - in fact, I have a great deal of respect for Russ and his craftmanship and artisanship, and hope to reach his level some day, so in reality I would expect his to be better than mine. But, let's say that I had a REALLY good day, and Russ has a REALLY bad day, so the pens were comparable, and that the materials were inherently equally beautiful as well. But, let's say Russ used a 10K gold finish kit, whereas I am using my TiGold. My kit cost more, so unless I'm willing to charge less for my time, I've got to pass that extra cost on to my customers, and thus my pen will be priced higher than Russ's. When the customer holds the pens next to each other, I would like there to be a subtle difference between my kit and Russ's (other than the color), so the buyer can see the difference between the kits. This way I can point to the differing style and explain what that means with respect to platings and their durability. Then the customer can make an informed choice about which pen is worth the price to them. Some may still choose the less expensive pen, and that's fine, but where the kits all look the same except a barely distinguishable color change (the TiGold kits actually look to me like they have a thinner gold plating, because of the lighter color), it's hard to get the customer to believe you.