The loading (progress) bar displays on the right side and it's quite small. I was informed that during a training event, some newbies were confused because once they clicked 'Edit', they actually tried to edit just after anything happened. Anything means: the text got grayed.
It grayed out, but they didn't know it. Something was happening on the right side, but they also ignored it, as they ignore malware banners. There was no toolbar, but it isn't about it, they know no VE toolbar. (Now it displays even if the page is loading, I'm aware of this).
According to the trainers, the loading bar should be much bigger or even centered. Personally, I notice the loading bar very quickly and I know exactly what its apperance means. But I'm Eamon.