Rescued blacksmith (near Mulbrydale) right after finishing Funeral Pyres (not long after arriving to Velen)... visited the blacksmith for the first time after rescuing (everything's fine)... left the area... saved the game (few times)... exited game... blacksmith is gone after loading any save state after that.

Has anyone encountered something similar?

I"m having the same problem...at first I talked to him just fine,but after I load the game he wouldn't talk to me anymore,then I tried to load a previous save but he just disappeared...

I had a similar thing happen, although I don't know if my case is a bug or not. The extra herbalist that shows up in White Orchard, after you clear the monsters at the shrine south of the main village, disappeared after I got to Velen. I checked that area several times, at different times of the day, and none of the NPCs have been there since.

Hi.

I have exactly the same problem, the same Blacksmith, for me he have never appeared in the village, though the posters in the village, we can read the following message: "the prisoners were liberated, they are on the way back, .............. in particular the return of the blacksmith".
Apparently they got lost.
Is what the blacksmith sells important things?
Or is what we can do without him because I played several hours before I realized this bug, and I do not want to start over.
Thank you in advance for your answers.

Sorry for my bad English.

He's selling Superior Griffin Armor (Witcher gear) diagram... but i don't know if that's the only way to obtain that diagram.

Ok thank you for your answer NINJ4R4BBID.
He does not sell (or win) Gwent cards ?

No cards for sale but you can win one card (just like with other Gwent players).

Ok thank you again for your help.