Wow. Just convinces me of how half complete this game is. I notice they leave these crucial things out that you don`t find out until you`ve done 80% of the game and like a month later...

The bugged quest for me can be reloaded and then tried again, unless they do not trigger. Looking at you Blood on the Ice pre 1.4.

It's the bugs that happen outside of quest those are frequent and bothersome and hinder the game, if you experience them with the frequency I an experiencing them.

I think a big reason for the essential tag is to keep them from being killed by random beasts, dragons,etc. Most characters spend some if not all of their time outside. It would be a bummer to have a quest essential NPC randomly killed.

Tag them as only killable by the player then.

While I for one dont mind them being invincible (or wouldn't mind the option to turn it on or off) something must be done to fix it. In my opinion the essential characters should be incapitated if their health reaches 0. Then for the next 3 days they will spend time in a healing center (such as a temple). All quests pertaining to them will be delayed. Then they will be able to resume what was set.

That wouldn't bother me in the least, since it's supposed to be a dangerous place to live. I would far rather lose quests because a giver got killed after wandering too close to a bear cave than be stuck with people being essential who have no business possessing that status. In fact, I made a 'No Essentials' mod for just that reason, one benefit of which is that it will actually possible for my characters to purge a given faction if they see fit (i.e. if their RP justifies it). Most probably won't, as I rarely play that way, but at least the option will be available.