Ive died enough in plenty of games to know if that “oh sh*t” moment is about to happen…then thats a pretty good time to use a def cd…and use it well. 
Parse is specifically an instance of damage recorded on a combat log.
For predictable hits I think I use my CD’s very well.
Blink off problems like Overgrowth in Mists or the Rogue on 1st ToP council fight (doesn’t work with Shimmer, people should really reconsider how bad Shimmer is compared to Icy Floes), Alter Time out of heavy damage like the 3rd boss in SD, Ice Blocking if I think it might be a one shot or saving the group a mechanic (castigate on 2nd SD boss, soaks on the Tazavesh Postmaster). Maybe one or the other for Parasite on the ToP lich. Recast Ice barrier during movement.
The problem is the unpredictable hits or dispel failures. If I’m slowly dying, I am loathe to blow Ice Block when I feel a healer has time to fix the issue. Think about the maze in mists where if a healer doesn’t dispel the poison you take a lethal hit after x seconds, or the bite that does ticcing damage for ~20% health/tic. And if I die, assuming the group isn’t in total chaos and they weren’t busy elsewhere, is that on me or them?
Under which category does Cheat Death fall - out of curiosity?
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Explosives is another mechanic that a few very lazy dps get off the hook on dealing with it. I have a mouse over moonfire macro on my Druid hot keyed to T. Easily do 60-80% of explosive orbs in a dungeon run. Stick those same people in another group and someone has to do that mechanic. Those are visually easier to identify than most other abilities.
I’m a big proponent of giving resources for successful interrupts to all classes that have them (or a small damage buff on next cast for mages or whatever). I also think tanked having a 5ish yard range increase on interrupts would be a nice qol change. Warriors blow compared to DH, Pld, DK that can group stuff up without fuss much easier.
I feel like most DPS are 1 and 2. The fact that I’m impressed when a mage uses ice block at the right time and then I’m even more impressed if they know how to cancel it. So many mages I see just sit in ice block for the whole duration at 100% health.
agree that the dps chase after better parses can sometimes interfere with the objectives
also means almost their entire dopamine spurt comes from the numbers and they are bored by everything else
might be a design issue
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One of my defensive abilities is also a healing and damage dealing ability, which I use liberally.
Yes, I play Boomy/Resto so I can often skip at least one of the GCDs. I agree, I would think twice about blowing 2 GCDs for a marginal benefit.
That’s another of those nonobvious game features. Nothing on the Ice Block tooltip indicates that hitting the button again cancels it. A lot of players also don’t know they can right-click to remove buffs.
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Ignore pain is a great defensive and preventative ability. I can’t imagine not having it on my bars for active use. This and Victory Rush makes us pretty durable. And for all those folks who say but my dps is a tad lower, you can’t do any dps at all if you are dead.
I try, but I’m a lolrogue. I forget/fail more often than I succeed.
Bubble early, bubble often.
M+ - I’m going to be bubbling on CD practically. If I have wings ready and I wanna blow crap up its best to get ready to pop the bubble or I’m going to rip threat unless I give the tank about 5-10 secs to establish threat. So if I want to attack early I’m GOING to pop bubble.
Blessing of sanc gets used if I see someone else getting abused or the tank is getting a bit low and the healer is stuggling. used 1-2 times a dungeon.
BoP gets used as either an alternate bubble for myself or on the healer if hes having a bad day.
In raids - save bubble for soak mechanics or if I did an oopsie and screwed up a mechanic. Its like a get out of jail free card.
I pop my cds so I can just stand in a mechanic and still dps if it’s only going to hit me one time.
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It’s something I can always be better at, but I try and use my defensive liberally.
WW has 3 defensive cooldowns with 2, 2, and 3 min cooldowns so I try and treat a dungeon like I should get 10ish uses out of each.
Some are pre-planned, some depend on if I get targeted.
Perfect user. In the vast majority of my runs Im below the healer both in damage taken and healing received. I am a master of shieldy magics.
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This is probably me most of the time. If I know something hurts based on prior experience I will probably press it again. The Big Red adds in DoS casting Rage as an example.
I also would say that I can become more greedy depending on the healer. For example, if I know the Big Red add will get two Rages off I will probably greed my defensive and put faith into the healer keeping me up for the first Rage.
It is all dependent really, sometimes I live greeding and then am rewarded with it later, other times I just die. I am a shaman though so I can usually afford to be greedy every so often with Reincarnation though so that sometimes goes into the equation, if I don’t have it I’m more likely to play it safe with ability usage.
I can be the panic person though when things start to devolve and a pull gets scuffed. At that point I just press it and pray 
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