If the # of NPCs is relative to the amount of players on line, is it done by percentage or over all number?
Temporarily decreasing the server max pop. to maybe 100 or 50 until we're back on the main line might help if NPCs appear based on the percentage of the max population. That way when the server is full, there will be no NPCs, and with a low playercount currently no one's gonna notice the 100 or so missing player slots.