Electroless plating, unlike plating with an anode, lays down an extremely even layer over the entire surface area. It does this at a set rate dependent on time.
What this means is that all blemishes, marks, scratches etc. will look exactly the same as before plating.
Plating with an anode will plate high and low spots on a piece.
see
http://www.caswellplating.com/movies/anodes.html