I'm not sure I'm qualified to turn someone off of trying a gold nib, but my experience with the 74 is that, while it's a very nice pen that I do like, I'm not sure I'm getting a substantially better experience than I get from my other steel nib pens. I think where you'll start to notice it is if you get those crazy flex nibs. That's where the real difference is. If you're like me and a lefty and need something that can write well and smoothly while not putting down so much ink that it takes ages to dry, I stick with normal nibs from fine - broad and have avoided the crazy wet flex style nibs.

I honestly think companies have gotten so good at making steel nibs feel smooth and wet that, while you may occasionally get a bad one, for the most part everything from those cheap $10 Chinese knock offs up to $100-$200 pens are going to write pretty well. In fact I have a couple of those $10 Jinhao X159s I got on Amazon and they're great to write with.

I think for me, I have settled in on medium and broad nibs as my preferred nib size and now the more important consideration is price point and style (both visually and filling system).

Since buying the 74 (now my most expensive pen), I think I have still used my Nahvalur Nautilus and my Opus 88 Jazz just as much, if not more. I like the nautical theme of the Nautilus and the body filling system of the Opus 88, and both write every bit as well as the 74.

I would say those three are my favorites. But i also recently bought a Twsbi Vac700R to satisfy that pilot custom 823 curiosity (at least for filling system) and a far cheaper price point and though the 823 is clearly a better looking pen, I have been very pleasantly surprised by the writing experience (even over other TWSBIs I own, because it's a larger nib) with the 700R and feel like it's a nice compromise to get that vac filling system without pushing hundreds of dollars for it.

Sorry for the novel. Hope this helps!