Taking occasional shots at higher stakes

I play mostly 1.00 + .10 to 10.00 + 1.00 MTTs. I look for tournaments with value such as the private tournaments here at CC. My bankroll keeps growing, not because I'm good, but because there's always extra value in the form of money-added or an overlay caused by a shortage of players in a guarantee.

Lately, I was on a good run, enough to take occasional shots at $20 + $2, $30 + $3, $50 + $5, etc. If there's value and I have enough money on the site, I'll even go $100 + $9 on rare occasions.

What I find is astounding. The play at these higher stakes is only a tiny bit better than the play at lower stakes. I haven't yet started winning at the higher stakes, not because the competition is too tough, but rather because I haven't yet been fortunate enough to catch a break when I really need to, the opponent does instead.

I never make it to the final table to really test out how good these players are, so I ask those of you who play these higher (to me) stakes, are these opponents any good at the final table? What I expect to find is that the final table is where the really really good players are and when my bad higher stakes run ends, I'll do lousy at the final table anyway, so I don't need to think about it that much. Am I right about that?