I understand pens. A cheap pen, like a ballpoint, is no good when compared to an expensive one that will last forever, can jostle around in my backpack and not break, and there'll always be ink ready when I touch it to the paper (because a lot of cheap pens dry up and you need to do that wiggle to get them to work).

Paper is just paper. As long as it has the type you need - dotted, grid, whatever - it's all just paper. I don't really see where the extra money goes.

Pens write differently on different papers, though?