What a first post. Usually we get people come on and say hello or something.
OP cuts right to the chase.
To tune... or NOT to tune.
If the question is "Do I NEED to?"... (in order to make it playable)... then the answer is you will know once you play the sport long enough or well enough. If one is at that level of needing to ask that question, then that player likely needs a lot more time training and playing to get to a basic level.
If the question is "Does tuning such and such rubber make it do such and such?" then one should just get an old rubber and play Tuna fish with it and just learn.
If the question is "How much tuner does it take to make the Fish Overdose?" then look at the sentence above.
If someone spends all that hard cash on a USD $400 setup and asks such a question, then maybe they can afford to buy some tuner and try themselves.
I am not fundamentally against expensive equipment, heck, our company sells expensive stuff too, it is just that a player looks for a certain unique property and something no one else does for that money. I personally have succeeded using both dirt cheap and very expensive equipment.
Don't be afraid to try stuff out yourself, take a lot of pics of it and post threads about it, that is what we do on TT forums like the fools we are, William the Fool is leading the way.