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My experience is that even the budget eyepieces do alright including the GSO's. In fact the Super Plossl's are good by all accounts especially for the price. Once upon a time the same quality would have cost an arm and a leg. So compared to the past we get good quality at a cheap price but we are also becoming, as a result, perhaps fussier buyers because we can be.
Having said that, what you will notice as you get more experience observing visually is that things such as contrast and levels of distortion will come more to the fore in your appreciation of what you are seeing. When starting out these are not as big a consideration as the immediate wow factor of enjoying the first views of nebulae, clusters and galaxies.
As you spend more time at the eyepiece and concentrate on each object for longer to learn more about it then you might notice that say, I could do with more contrast, or there is a level of distortion near the edge of the view that begins to bother you whereas before it was hardly noticable. That is when certain eyepiece types and constructions become the topic of discussion, also their coatings because you wish every single photon of that faint fuzzy to come through to your eye. Then there is also the field of view and its crispness to the edge to consider. When starting out I'd hazzard to say not many of us are immediately bothered by these considerations.
So what does this mean? Well it becomes subjective very quickly and it also comes to what you wish to do as well as budget. Some can have a great time with the "cheaper" (not to say worse) eyepieces whereas others feel they need the maximum and anything less is going to take away from their enjoyment. Where you fit in the scale of these viewpoints only you will know. I recommend though that if possible you get along to a local viewing night or out with folk who have a cross section of eyepieces and see what you like to see how the value to dollar ratio is to you. To get that last 5-20% improvement might not matter to you especially if the cost of the eyepiece becomes very high.
The more expensive eyepieces are very good and do make a difference in even modest telescopes (where the cost of the eyepiece is at least comparable too or more than the telescope & mount itself).
Other factors
- eyepieces can outlast telescopes i.e. you can have them for life so an investment in them will pay dividends if you stay in the hobby.
- there is no point in having quality optics on your telescope and then loosing out with a shocking eyepiece (be it its condition or design).
- longer focal length telescopes are perhaps more forgiving of some the "cheaper" eyepieces, for example the 68 degree FOV 15mm GSO works fine in an F12 refractor (some minor distortion in the outer edges of the FOV but I can live with it for now) but in an F5 it is not anywhere near as nice. I found an 18mm University Optics ortho is much better visually when I compared the two but at more than twice probably three times the price you'd hope so note its FOV was much narrower.
- eyepieces that come with telescopes are fine to get started but there is generally the assumption that upgrades will occur or that the user will have their own personalised collection.
- a selection of focal lengths and a good quality barlow work well.
- if you wear glasses then eye relief is generally very important.
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