Quote Originally Posted by RichardButte View Post
...Except that I can't always even SEE my character to observe animations when I'm in a 24 man raid (and a lalafell).

I'm sorry, but there's no excuse for having a situation in which abilities appear to be usable, yet secretly aren't, especially when there's no clear indicator as to exactly how long one ability will lock you up vs. another (again, you can't expect to always see yourself to observe animations, either).
(snip)
This kind of thing has been around since 2.0, and its always annoying, and still sometimes kills longtime players. I'm sure we've all seen a white mage hit Benediction and then their target dies anyhow, or a PLD hit hallowed ground, the graphics show it, and the Paladin dies to the next auto-attack. I don't think its working as intended, but I bet the fix is either really hard to program, or just can't be done without causing other issues.