I have quite some issues with Elvenar. However, this is not one of them.
So what if you can't get the maximum bonus as a free player? Every thing in the daily quests and series of quests was a bit of help to get something. Not always what one wanted, but a bonus anyway. So now I'm stuck with over 100 meditation spells and over 100 magical manufactoring spells. Won't use up those in ages, but it's nice to have them handy. Got some of the good cultural buildings and some of the smaller ones I don't have much use for, but hey, who knows when it does come in handy?
Look at it as a series of (chance) gifts, no matter what it was. If the event hadn't taken place you wouldn't have gotten what you got now. I rather like the events, so I look forward to see more of them, whether or not I will be able to get to the max price.