Related to your experience of how players see the different types of moves, I’ve always found Defy Danger really shines when it’s not just the GM telling a player what to roll. Like, the basic format of the conversation is: GM describes the sitch, player says what their character does, and you resolve it, with moves or without. So if the GM describes the danger and the player says what they do, in fiction, to not suffer it, and then either it’s a move to roll for or just a GM decision, it feels like it actually follows that format. Certainly more so than the GM describing the danger after the player says what they do, and then immediately calling for a roll.