Hmm, let me see if I can contribute anything useful to this.
When going to a con, most furries who do have suits do not spend the entire time, or even the majority of time, there in suit. They are hot, they are tiresome, you need to take breaks. The furries who marathon suit are few and far between (and considering fursuiters already only account for 20% or less of con attendence, this is a tiny number).
Things that you get as a fursuiter at a con that you don't get when not in suit:
stopped constantly for pictures.
Stopped constantly for hugs. Do you liked being hugged? You're getting hugged in fursuit. Don't like being hugged? Good luck with that, you're getting hugged in fursuit.
Trip over everything because you can't see it.
Get to ride first in the elevators (if everyone is actually being nice because you are MELTING in those suits)
Usually fursuits are given more preferential seating up front in some panels. Because let's be honest most suits don't have amazing vision (or hearing) and if we want to catch anything out of that panel, we kind of need to be close. Sometimes we get seated to the front sides in a room, which depending on the panel, could be good or bad. Because keeping your neck craned at 90 degrees in suit is even more tedious than doing it while dressed normally.
Fursuiters can usually get away with a little more heckling? Antics? Than non suiters. It is not uncommon to see a suiter walk up to the front of a panel and pantomime things during a panel. But this also depends largely on the con you are attending, and how well you know the person running the panel too. There are still limitations to this.
You miss out on a lot of conversations as a suiter because hearing through all that foam or resin and fur is not easy. Yet everyone wants to talk to you. And if you are a talking suiter, your voice is often muffled in the suit head. This is probably the one thing that gets me most, because I'd rather be able to actually converse with people I meet than just stand there and pretend I can hear them clearly.
You aren't doing art trades in suit. You aren't drawing in suit. Because good luck picking up a pencil in suit. As someone who likes to randomly engage in sketch trades or the like, this is something that I must do only when out of suit. If you planned on getting a spot in the artist's alley, you aren't suiting during that.
I think the majority of people are there to meet and talk (and draw) with like minded folks. The fursuits are a fun decoration, but not an integral part of the convention. Are fursuiters going to naturally attract more attention in the hallways than someone in plain streetclothes? Sure. But then people move on and go back to drawing and talking and all that stuff that doesn't require a fursuit.
Define 'worth' ? I don't go to a convention to make money, I go to have fun. I don't imagine the majority of people go to conventions to make money, but can't say as I've ever run a poll on that. But considering the last con I was at had roughly 1800 attendees, and only 30 vendors and maybe 20 spots in the artist's alley, that's what? Less than 5% of the people there are there to sell stuff? Clearly the majority aren't there for monetary 'worth'.
