robithinker wrote: »

1. My father's character would sometimes just disappear and the arrow above his head would too. Found forum posts about this. Is this still a widespread issue?

I'm not sure of everything that might cause disappearing, but there are some places where if one of you has finished a quest there it changes to an alternate version of that location so that once you cross the line they're not in the same reality as you any more until you also complete the quest there.

sometimes upon logging in you'll not be able to see eachother even if you're standing in the same place, in which case you have to 'travel to player' and then it's fixed. I believe this has to do with how the game decides what to display to you, cutting down on the number of other players crowding up the town or something like that, I'm not entirely sure.

robithinker wrote: »

2. He is level 12 and with my new character I was only level 5. What restrictions are there on playing the same quest together? I think I read that you can't play quests that are more than 5 levels below you or that you don't get XP. Is that correct? Not sure about group PvE mechanics.

He will not get loot from anything he kills while accompanying you on quests 5 levels below him (any containers or heavy sacks and stuff in low areas are of course still loot-able), but I believe he would still get some XP for completing a quest if he hasn't actually done it already, though I think it's less than you get for a quest at your level, and the reward gift may be white quality instead of green or blue.

I think you get increased XP when grouped, and you get to loot things someone you are grouped with has killed, even if you didn't actually hit it at all yourself - though I think there's some kind of proximity requirement - but it still won't make it possible for an overleveled character to get normal loot from things a lower level character has killed.

There are some places he will not be able to re-enter with you if he's already completed the quest there, but... then again some of the special instances do let you back in if you're grouped (sometimes you have to specifically travel to player if you can't activate the door or something), I'm not sure there's any 'rhyme or reason' to when it does or doesn't.

When playing with someone who is below my level I try to take a bit more of a background role, mostly heal or act as tank and just supplement their damage but let them do most of the damage so that I'm not making it boring for them by killing everything too quick, but generally it works out just fine.

Also, be aware that questing while grouped has lots of odd inconsistencies with how things work. Sometimes when one of you completes a task it counts for everyone in the group, other times you each have to do it individually. Sometimes when one of you exits a conversation with an NPC or selects a course of action while talking to them, it will auto-exit everyone else in the group so it's possible someone will miss some information or not get to make a choice - so be sure to talk to eachother and confirm things before clicking things in the dialogue. Sometimes an item or portal you're supposed to use will only work for the first person in the group to activate it, leaving everyone else stranded and having to travel to the other player. And there are some quests that you can do grouped up to a certain point, and then it takes you into a solo instance, which you may not be able to handle on your own if you've been doing this with someone at a higher level.

you're welcome! I hope you and your dad have fun!