Indeed. I have slaughtered many named thralls on accident because the name plates did not appear until the final blow was being delivered. Something is not working correctly with name plates currently.
I can confirm. Or my personal “anti favorite” thing, when the name plate appears just in time for you to pull the final blow, only for their life to be so low that hitting them with the Truncheon kills them.
Oh yes indeed, I’ve taken to starting off with the truncheon…doing a quick retreat in hopes the name comes up when the npc follows…and if the steel truncheon knocks an unwanted placeholder out …ruthlessly slaughtering him as he lays unconscious