I sympathize with you, OP. I would do the same. I did not have a day off from work this week so I’ll miss out on this event, but from the threads I’ve been skimming through it seems I wasn’t missing too much.
I have fond memories of Halloween and, even though unfortunately the new players with invitation codes this weekend didn’t get to experience it, it is enough for me to not get too disappointed with Anet because I was able to see the potential of how awesome these “events” can be.
This one didn’t turn out so well for many, great for some perhaps, but there will always be another event around the corner and hopefully it will live up to the same standards as that of the Halloween event (or maybe even surpass it). It’s something that I look forward to along with more cool costumes from the Gem shop. ^^