I only play with hard tips, I know there are lots of people out there that say things like "with a soft tip you can put more english or spin on the ball" or "you will miscue less", I honestly disagree with those people, you might be a little more prone to miscue with a hard tip if you forget to chalk on every shot then hard tips hold chalk less than soft tips. If you have a good stroke like it was said before you shouldnt have a problem. Now, the real reason why we have so many options, its "feel", and I love the solid hit/sound of a hard tip, its like music to my ears. Ive tried pretty much every hard tip out there, I ended up sticking with a kamui black hard for quite sometime, it holds its shape pretty good and its pretty hard, the only con I noticed with those tips is that they glace over fairly quick so I have to run 150 sand paper to scruff them, about two months ago I got a new predator cue and I decided to try the new predator hard tip and so far this particular tip on this shaft I have to say its the best hard tip Ive ever had, I have not had to shape it, or scruff it or anything, and I break with my own cue a lot.
Also you have to consider that even if you get the same brand and type of tips not all tips are gonna play the same, the new layered tips and brands like kamui have made tips quite a bit more consistent but still you are gonna get a tip with a different feel once in a while, thats why Im gonna be so sad when I have to replace this predator tip on my playing cue.