High end optics, guys who have owned low budget, "mid level" , and top tier scopes chime in

My point is - the most accurate parallax wheel you can have, is the one "you create" and "verify" by taking the shots and making a dope chart. It also helps to use ballistics programs like chairgun and strelock pro. I absolutely get what your saying, but how accurate you want to be, is directly related to a time investment.
This is why I call them reference points,

..more people would want them than don't want them, having them on the scope does not hinder the people who want to have custom wheels done, etc.... however it does have people not wanting to buy them who do want the reference... I spoke directly with a sightron rep at NAC about this and the 4 people who I didn't even know that were standing around listening , all said the same thing, they wouldn't buy one if it didn't have parallax ref marks.
 
Through my scope journeys, I went through a good number of first and second focal plane scopes. First order of business is which? Second focal are cheaper generally than their first focal counterparts, this generally means more for the buck, or same quality for less money. I don't shoot field target so I went SFP. Reticle was the most important after that, unfortunately, my preference is in the minority. In the end, I settled on ZeroTech Thrive HD and Delta stryker , both SFP. With the ZeroTech being ballpark $600 and the Delta $1600. Were they close? Surprisingly , yes, but their are differences. The delta had a wider field of view, 56 vs 50 and higher magnification that was real clear. when looking through at 100 yards, the delta with the 56mm bell seemed to have twice as much FOV as the Zerotech. Was it worth the extra $1000? Well, after shooting at 100 yards, my eyestrain was noticeably less.
 
First let me say I’ve never owned a scope over $2000.00, most of the higher end scopes I’ve owned were fixed power and manufactured 15 plus years ago!

I shot CF Benchrest for a few yrs. And used Leupold, Bausch and Lomb 4000 series and weaver. (This dates me I know!)

For variable power I’ve used Leupod, sightron, Nightforce mainly, If you count the Chinese scopes Athlon, Hawke.

But my two favorite are Nightforce and Leupold, the glass clarity, parallax and light transmission have always been best for my eye’s. Also let me tell you I like the front objective parallax adjustment and SFP both the Nightforce (BR 12x42) and my Leupold VX3’s Scopes both fixed and variable were this way.

My next fixed power scope will be either a Leupold or March for my next BR Airgun. And I know front parallax adj. is all but gone away! I have a 45x45 sightron on my BR gun now and like it

I’ve sold so many airguns and scopes over the year’s and regretted many, but one of my favorite all time scopes was the 12x42 BR Nightforce so I just bought another!
 
I do not think you need to spend bo ko money on a scope for it to be good.What you need to do is learn why some scopes are better than others and what to look for,,,,,,Leupold is always a safe bet,so are upper Burris and Sightron.....many scopes in the upper range use the same glass =made my the same manufactors and there are very few....another reason why some Chinese scope makers use Japanese glass in there upper range scopes.Better coating pass more light through.....Diopter adjustment done right can make a big difference on clearity....Point is Japanese glass is good ,as is some others...adice is nothing more than direction.