New Irene event is a tearjerker:

I didn't much like Irene until now, but I may have to rethink that now that I know she isn't actually Irene, but Phantom Thief Jamie, impersonating the dead Irene to honor her memory.  She even has an all new Phantom Thief SS Memoria where she fights completely differently than her detective Irene form.  (Not that I've gotten it myself, but I'd sure like to).

While learning Irene's dramatic plot twist of a backstory was satisfying, new events also have a separate appeal of offering new recruitment and powerup opportunities.  I was able to leverage this event into getting Vampire Charlotta's level 1 limit break, base Muua's level 2 limit break, Hisame's level 4 limit break, waitress Kozue's SS Memoria, an eternal daphne for Idol Erika, and Irene's skill evolution.  (Fitting since this was Irene's event.)

Now that Irene has critical pierce she's an actually playable character.  Of course she'll never make the big leagues stuck at limit break 0, but the same is true of Idol Erika.  Their potential far exceeds their current strength.

I've already used Vampire Charlotta and base Muua in important fights so powering them up is definitely worthwhile.

I fought halfway up the Hell Mode version of the clocktower, which netted me a few more miracle bells (used for reversions.)  I completed the new score challenge with a healthy 520k score (which my dark squad got for me.  My dark squad is pretty potent on offense, so they do fine so long as the enemy doesn't have much health.  The problem is Apophis has the most health in the game, so even though it's vulnerable to dark I can't do anything against it.)  I beat the Astrarium handily. (the enemy was weak to fire so I sicked my most powerful fire squad on it and romped.)

The best part is I was able to accomplish all this using only leftover paid quartz and free quartz and free tickets the game gifted me.  The game is also offering a guaranteed SS Memoria ticket so long as I log in for the next nine days, which of course I was planning to do anyway.  So the recruitment bonanza isn't over yet.