Actually I was thinking of making a thread about this but geared a little different. I think you have done a great job with your post.

If I may add:

FFXIV has some very relaxing, lush animations for casting spells and taking action, but the animations and cast times are so long that you can't get anything done in a battle. Going into a battle as a Conjurer, I have a grand approach do what I want to do, such as: debuff the enemy, then start nuking. Because the animations and cast times are so long, I never get beyond the stage of debuffing. Debuffs need to be instant cast and animations need to be much quicker so that I can actually get past the opening stage of battle to really start my main strategy. So please take this into account so that battles can be better realized.

Neptune Deepsea