Regarding story mechanics, I much preferred the method used in the Christmas event to the method used for Valentine's Day. With the Christmas event, if you at least began it within the time window, then the whole series of events would eventually play out for you even if, for instance, you missed the ultimate day of the event. On the other hand, I unfortunately missed out on some evidently highly interesting content because I had the misfortune of vacationing somewhere without internet access. While timed events are fun due to relative scarcity, I am not sure what purpose is served by locking customers out of new content because they lose internet access for a day or two.