If you have a VPI and the periphery ring you should definitely use it. Watch your woofers when you first set the stylus in the groove and see if they are wobbling and if that is reduced when you use the ring. Also watch a few of your "flat" records closely and see if the tonearm is moving up and down as the record is spinning around. You might be surprised. If you're not, maybe you don't need the ring.
I think you would have to try really hard to damage your stylus with the VPI ring. The ring should fit over the edge of the record (there are some records that are pressed a little bit smaller than the diameter of the ring) so there's no valley for the stylus to fall into.
If you somehow manage to drop the stylus on the ring, I'm not sure how the diamond would fare on the smooth stainless steel, but I doubt it would cause much if any damage before you realized what you did and lifted it up. Do you currently drop the stylus outside the record?
When I sold my VPI I immediately missed the periphery ring. The VPI center clamp is well designed and works well on most records, but the periphery ring is better.