Value means nothing if you aren't going to sell any cards.
Pick Event decks if you are willing to go for a long term commitment. It gets you started better than an intro pack at a higher price.
Pick Intro packs if you are going to play the game sporadically. I prefer intro packs over event decks for the sole fact that there are more choices, and it is a great way to get to know the set mechanics. I also don't treat Magic like something I am going to make money with. So either way, I am not making any money, as I have no intention to sell the cards from the intro pack. The only reason to buy an intro pack is to play the game, so don't listen to anyone who says not to buy an intro pack.
Event decks are the best deck to start with in terms of real life magic online. In Magic online, you play against other players constructed decks. Event decks is the best place to start against other players' real life constructed decks.
Intro packs are the best deck to buy if you are looking to play the Duels of the Planeswalkers style of Magic. Intro packs are cheap, and are for people who love to play intro pack vs intro pack. Intro packs are useless unless it is intro pack vs intro pack. The reason why it is better than Event Deck vs Event Deck is the sheer number of intro packs to choose from compared to the Event deck.
I agree with much of what you said however value does matter much of the time even if you don't intend to sell cards since you might choose to trade and many people go value for value.People also sell some cards because newer, better versions come out and they want to mitigate the cost of purchasing the new ones. About 6 months ago I had a rather disasterous breakdown in my car and the money I had set aside for such occurances wasn't enough and had to sell some cards to cover it. Aside from that cards tend to lose value when they rotate unless they find a home in older formats and having to constantly purchase new cards at top prices in order to stay competitive(while still having fun hopefully) only to see those cards dramatically drop in value can take it's toll. Of course, some people see it as merely the cost of fun which is fine but I still wouldn't discount it completely.
