I am a bit puzzled that so many are having trouble with gathering essence. Now I haven't been up to the glowing at drift point if they are behaving a bit differently from other locations.
My dragon is ancient, I don't use any mods to change her size/appearance and I really only get annoyed if I am dragging the Super Mondo Cargo AnchorTM without wearing my speed wings. Hate when the radiants outrun me. But that is fixed by parking the disk and putting the speed wings on.
I use a /selectnearest targeting macro and my target highlight is the beam of light so I can locate the position even if the wisp itself is under my dragon. I also have a keyboard shortcut to switch from overhead view to first person which I use for fighting as well as crafting. I have been crafting with my biped alt too, can't say I have run into problems there either and that one is lv40 something scholar and lv30 enchanter.
Dracaena