The speed just has a slow feel to it. It wouldn’t be too bad if there was a run button I could hold down to go a bit fast. Your castle’s under attack, no time for a leisurely stroll through the resource patch (XP)

And regarding the animation again, yes there is usually wait time but good games let you exit out of them if need be. Runescape for example requires you to wait until a certain amount of time before you finish mining an ore. However, your allowed to walk away from it at any time. The player is aware that they are forfeiting the time in getting the resource by doing so, but something else could be more urgent than the resource. Like if getting attacked by a giant scorpion in the caves under Falador, you’d rather be able to run or fight instead of waiting to finish mining that coal for your steel bars or grand exchange. The same can be said for Minecraft, a player would like to quickly forfeit their resource gathering if a dangerous mob or hostile player approach them.

There is usually a waiting time in resource gathering, but it would serve your game better if players can choose to forfeit the resource in order to rush to the castle’s gate to refortify it when the next wave of enemies hit, in my honest opinion. Do as you like, remember I’m just giving my personal feedback. But something else to consider, look back and see the games with the mechanic(s) that your trying to do (mining for example). Examine how they did what they did and why they did what they did. Was it limitations of the system, padding out play time, success/failure of harmonizing with other elements? How fast/slow does it feel? Can you do something else while it’s happening, and if you do does it effect what your currently doing? If movement was inputted, does the action stop or get interrupted?

Game design isn’t an exact science, but it does take some scientific research to find solid mechanics for a specific game. Sorry for the wall of text, I kind of become a chatterbox when I want to try voicing my experience/opinion clearly. I don’t mean to act like I know better, I probably know game design just about as much as you do. I’d love to play the next build of your game when it comes out and see what direction you take it! Thank you for your time and have a nice day!