We hear you loud and clear - this bugs me as well.
Unfortunately - because of how the software is structured, adding a progress indicator of some sort will require a significant amount of rework. We'll get to it eventually, but I cannot commit to a date.
In the meantime - Ground planes and hatched planes will significantly increase the processing time of the files. If you are using Eagle, I recommend setting the trace width of the plane to 12 mil. This should speed things up.
