Took me a while to realize the game is actually about events; the quests/storyline are secondary. If you focus on quests (as I did), you'll notice that the rewards are often undramatic. 500 coins, 20 xp. Sometimes unlocking future quests. The incentive for events is getting an energy dropper or other useful dropper (tickets, permits, etc.) to help with quests. And I have never done the calculations to see how much energy we expend in a 1-2 week event vs how long it will take that 4 energy dropper to "pay for itself."
My first weeks in the game, I didn't have more than 80k coins and could not afford the 100k in market materials that were needed for a quest. I didn't find out that Felloras were the biggest $ source until 6 months in - I didn't realize you get coins when you are full/have 99 of something.
Most quests are designed to go slow. If you need 5 visits to a 24 hour resource, that's not gonna happen fast. But yeah, if I wanted to finish an event as a newbie I had to put buildings AWAY to keep from spending clicks on collecting, lol.
I sat out events twice, and regretted it both times, lol. The second was the worst: Halloween 2018 (2019?) the activities were literally POURING out deco and I missed all of it.
Leaderboards seem to frustrate people the most: there's an animal that only a few people are gonna get. So I just play Monster Hunts for tokens and ignore the rest. Don't fight the event monster, don't make items to turn in for points. Just dire boar and golems.
The important thing is to enjoy the game. The deco, the activities, the quests, the loot. If you aren't having fun, then it's work, for which we don't get paid. :-)
Pin your hopes on Black Friday, getting some half-price energy sources and resources really upped my game so that I can enjoy it without pressure.