To answer your original question, what you should expect from higher end rod, is more lifting power through the mid section of the rod. A good well designed blank should have three distinct sections in the blank action. the tip obviously provides sensivitivity for fishing live bait etc. but should also fold away quite easily under pressure. The mid section is where the lifting power of the rod comes from. Sometimes described as recoil, you can actually see this section loading up when you crank the reel down hard, and then lifting during the pump of the rod when fighting the fish. It's really evident on good carbon composite rods. The Butt of the rod should be quite stiff and although helps with lifting the fish, doesn't really have any action to speak of. You certainly shouldn't see the bend going down through the reel seat or the butt.
Having said all that avoid 100% carbon rods, they are prone to highstick and other failures. Good composite blanks are worth their weight in gold.
In the early days of stand up rods, the best blanks were Sabre, and Calstar. A lot of manufacturers have caught up and rod technology has moved onto the point where game rods are now fairly low tech. The locally made blanks were not in the same league, IMHO. Generally you saw actions with soft tips and then parabolic mid and butt sections.
I personally still prefer Calstar balnks, with E Glass blanks from the 6455 or 6460 range being preferred for general purpose trolling, and the Graphite Glass Compsite Grafiter range 760 and 7460 range for really heavy lifting. These compositite rods have a few wraps of carbon weave in their Butt and mid section, with glass weave going right through to the tip. They're bullet proof and have survived many a clamity and high stick in the fishing I have done with them.
Definitely prefer fixed guides these days with braid backing and mono top shots. Roller guides are fine and generally need to be disassembled and lubed once per year. The also need to be used with the plait double knot if using windons, the finish knot on a bimini twist doesn't go trough the Aftco HD guide frame that well. Other guides like winthrop etc. have bigger clearances and might not be as problematic. All my older rods are roller guides, but any new builds get fixed gudies these days.
All my own rods have straight butts. I don't do alot of deep drop fishing or sword fishing. Thta's where bent butts come into their own. To give me clearance for corner rods, I use 5'6" blanks for corner rods, and 6 foot rods for outriggers. This helps me avoid tangling tipe on hookups.
Hope that helps.