[Known] Npc's seem to phase out, disappear.

When this first happened we had one person who would not leave the zone so we could try to reload it. So we used Option->Multiplayer->Friends only mode. It reloaded the npcs directly near us in that zone . When we went to different part of the zone we loaded in single player mode and the npcs would reappear. So we would switch back and forth to get the npcs we needed. While doing this we made another discovery. In Friends only and single mode this problem crops up in more regions than multiplayer mode. In these modes I can confirm virtas, aerie and adventuring areas nearby still had npcs that only spawn when an avatar gets near and it would still repop npcs that had respawn. But all npc that were just spawned the first time when loaded the zone stayed missing. Unless of course you reloaded the zone with the above method in which case only the immediate missing npc would spawn in that zone.

IN BRIEF: this issue is infecting Friends only and solo play in multiplayer modes, more often and in more areas.

 

Thank you for the details. The bug has been submitted: 56255

We will fix this ASAP

 

Please do. I have been playing for a week on multi-only and haven't even been able to complete the first few starter quests. This issue seemed to spread like a virus. First it was bloodriver ...then Aerie...then any and every town I come to. The only npcs I can count on are the player vendors.

I will note that hostile NPCs have no issue being there because they have short respawn timers. Maybe you should give non-hostile npcs respawn timers too.