Another take on the aegis is that while the warding and magic resist effects are powerful, any seriously dangerous opponent can probably work out a way past it, but if you have a small aegis with a large penetration you can probably still catch them with the casting total halving effect, which is also a very useful defense, albeit a different kind. This approach also uses less vis over time, but perhaps more of other resources. Ultimately I think it depends on your threat model and what kind of stories you're interested in
Lots of good reasons I've seen mentioned in previous posts. There is one important use that I believe hasn't been listed.
InVi is the combination that is used to open the Gift of a potential apprentice so that he can use Hermetic magic. If said apprentice already has a supernatural ability, then a high lab total in InVi is necessary to preserve it. If the master's lab total is too low, then the ability is lost.
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Another issue is, spell durations are set, I believe. One can't just turn off a spell they have cast. I'm happy to be corrected, however, I couldn't see it.
If you cast image of the wizard torn with sun duration, yes, you are protected and all, but you will weird people out all day. When you walk through a doorway, your image, as it is torn, is going to go through the wall like a Bethesda game.
Some Perdo vim to turn off spells is a good thing.
Harnessed magic and MuCo(An) spells using foci bypass this(there might be other ways) but generally yeah
Use InVi to find out that something is vis, to find out what Form, and how much.
Move vis from an invonvenient place on a dead beat into something more portable and less disgusting.
Detect the presense of an aura, and what Realm it is associated with.
Investigating an enchanted item you lootedfound during a story is also InVi.
A lot have already spoken. I'll be a bit of a dissenter.
There is nothing bad about picking up Vim 5 at character creation. There are even a lot of bonuses. As a Rego X specialist, you can substitute as a ReVi Aegis caster, and its probably nice to get a ReVi lab total of 20+ to do that. However, any other character could scavenge up that lab total. I don't think its necessary, and you could even try to pay someone to come cast the ritual for you, if anyone has good relations with their Mentor or House.
However, you guys are very, very vis poor. If you are distributing vis, that's 1 vis per player per year. Most people I've talked to about this consider 3 per player to be a bit low. That is the biggest reason to put points into Vim, and I highly suggest someone who specializes in Creo instead of you: Getting a CrVi lab total of 21 gets you a +75% boost of income for ONE season of work. With that amount of vis a year, you probably can't afford to cast a yearly Aegis, and especially if your 4 pawns of vis are not Vim or Rego.
But I think you can work around it, especially if you have a relatively new covenant. Finding new sources of vis should be very possible, and very fun. Spend your first year trying to get up to 8 pawns a year by adventure and exploration. Since I bet your Storyguide would take advice, you can suggest options to him. I might even suggest having someone's Mentor come cast your aegis for a year or two while you all figure out your plans. I really like the story plot of having your big problems already solve for a short time.
Add edit: If you really want us to sell you on it, then you should just get it, and get a low level aegis, and start scavenging Vis like a buzzard late to the roadkill.
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Seconded. Quests for new vis sources is one of the easiest genres of stories to run for new players and storyguides, so starting low, at 4p/year, may be just right.
TBH, I do not think we should sell it that hard. Get Vim 5 and the Aegis at L20; it is only 15xp and 20 levels so not worth fretting about. It is a very plausible that your parens had the foresight to force your through that. Then it enables you to do InVi5 spontaneously very reliably, which is most certainly worth the 15xp. Now, if the covenant needs a better Aegis, have the magi sell it to you in character.
I always find that too grand plans for character development spoils the actual roleplaying.
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Vim is the Art governing important parts of identifying, harvesting, concentrating, and transferring vis.
Also detecting and identifying auras.