Mtgoxlive is crap. 1 trade every second should be cake, let alone the 1 trade per 5 seconds we were seein when the bot was most active. I have not noticed such long delays with orders, but then again I usually have my orders in place before large movements. What price would it have to jump/fall to for you to trade? Put an order in for that price and adjust further from the price if the price moves too close without spiking.
I DO *usually* have my orders in, sometimes for days ahead of time. But, occasionally, there's still that time when you want to get that quick buy/sell in.
Agreed too that goxlive can suck, but it is a helpful visual representation of the current market conditions, and much easier to just glance across then the sea of orders in the book.