A couple things.

Animations in battle.

No. Things seem unnatural as it is with how quickly you enter/exit active mode already. Last thing they need is to make the animations seem even more unnatural. Personally I wish we could go back to the old ones but I understand the need to speed it up a bit. Hopefully these animations will be revamped and fixed for better combat in 2.0.

Buffing yourself

Leave buffs alone. Fine as is. I do wish the effects wouldn't just vanish however soon as you use another skill as they do. Hopefully along with the rest of the animations this will be revamped in 2.0. You've got a point about the whole chaining thing really, but I'm still against speeding stuff up and making everything insta-cast. Maybe allow them to last a bit longer instead. Even a few of the 15 minute abilities feel like a waste because their durations are too short.

Crafting

Sorry but if you don't like waiting then crafting probably isn't for you. No doubt it feels a bit boring, and they do intend to streamline some things. Personally, I'm hoping the upcoming effects to "speed" things up won't make it look even more unnatural. Before they touched it up originally it looked wrong. For example with Culinarian. Your start chopping normally with a knife, and halfway through you go all psycho and start chopping really quickly then slow down. It's a little more fluid now but if they get rid of this may as well just have an instant craft like FFXI. Kneel, create a crystal using some kind of element and bam, insta-craft.

Weaponskills

Animation lock is being dealt with, but takes time. Hopefully by 2.0 we'll have it working better. Part of the interest here is learning when to unleash a crazy flashy combo and when to just deal damage. It's not all about numbers as some people think, it's about trying to keep your butt alive and work as a team. Ifrit's a good example of this too. There's this one guy I can run Ifrit with, and even with some random add-ins our winning streak is often very high. Why? Because everyone can work as a team, despite animation locks. One party even had Ifrit down in about 11 minutes I think. These kinds are things are called endgame for a reason, it's for you to practice and get better at. Latency issues aside, working with your group and watching when you unload that heavy combo can spell the difference between death and a win.

Sorry but overall it seems like your thread is more about wanting everything to be instant and quick. FFXIV is faster paced game than XI, that's true without a doubt. Yet it also requires a bit more thought than "Mash 1 to win" than it did in its early days. I hope they continue this tradition. Battle doesn't feel too slow to me when you've got plenty of stuff to do in it. Oddly enough I'm even starting to enjoy Gladiator now and I hate the job.