Well it is a free hat. New people who join can do that 1-70 janeway quest. Then they can farm what 8k kills for a free hat if they are vip, and what 1600 kills for non-vip? The cat ear beret is about 25m and 5 defense. You also need to have the hat be +5 for the effect which I personally don't go for and probably some others do the same.
I was playing with a lvl 70 blacksmith that just started recently again, he just had about 200k. He had all eden equips with a smile face. We met on the airship, and I ended up giving him a free star spangled bandana which he equipped shortly after. The 20 defense though is still pretty good. Regular plays are probably just getting the hat because it is just a quest to complete, used for alts, or to be sold later if changed to tradable.