I agree that timed events can be stressful, especially if you have a slow and/or unlucky start and with bottleneck spawn/drops. However after playing this game for as long as I have, I don't really stress if I can't finish an event. I just move on from there. It is nice when you can finish early and work towards main story lines. Even when I haven't finished but I've already collected all the necessary components and just waiting for the last bottle neck, that's usually when I can get back to story line or basic maintenance in the game. I definitely avoid spending gems. Especially if I start to save up now for any Black Friday related events in the future, lol.