Character in solo sometimes doesn't resurrect

On two occasions, while soloing (no henchmen) my character has been killed, and a resurrection timer displayed. But when the timer reached zero, nothing happened. My view continued to be centered on my dead character's body, with all the environmental colors washed out as during the countdown.

Is this a bug or is there just a game mechanic or interface quirk I'm missing here?

My only guess, with no screens and more details (where, when, whatever you can provide), is a connection problem. A lag.

Could be a bug, or as drkn said, it could also be due to lag (internet or server lag).

Does this happen often? or was it just a once off? And if it has happened more than once, has it happened in different area's/zones or just the one area/zone?

We need more details (like which mission/area you were in when you died). Resurrection Shrines need to be activated (a white ball of light will light up when you approach it) before they can res you. The only area this could be a problem is either in the Kurzick or Luxon controlled-areas (in Factions) and your character has more faction of the other side -- in which case that res shrine will not activate (light up) unless you pay the priest. Unwaking Waters is a good example of this -- you need to active this shrine otherwise a party wipe could send you back to the outpost.

You will always rez somewhere in Luxon/Kurzick territory whether you pay for a shrine or not. If you aren't the proper faction and/or don't pay for the nearest shrine you will rez back at the shrine where you entered the zone - but you will rez.

My guess would be lag, but more info would help.

Except in Unwaking Waters, as noted above.

It happened once in pre-searing Ascalon, and it happened once early in the Factions campaign, during a quest in which I was to destroy a nest of the bandits (Crimson somethingorother) that are demanding 2/3 of the village's crops.

In both cases, resurrection shrines had definitly been activated. (What happens if you die without one activated?)

I wouldn't say it happens often--just those two times.

Just tested this out. Since my main account has more Luxon faction I used my Rit on that account and tested several locations on the Kurzick side.

First test was Drazach Thicket -- I left The Eternal Grove and didn't pay the priest -- Res Shrine was not active. I promptly got myself killed near Bezzr Wingstorm -- I was not res'ed at the res shrine next to The Eternal Grove but the one near Ruprecht Brauer, which is near the middle of the map.

I did similar tests for Ferndale, Melandru's Hope, Morostav Trail, Mourning Veil Falls with the same results -- never res'ed at the shrine where I've entered the zone -- I am speculating you will likely res at the nearest shrine that is not controlled by the opposite faction.

Discovered a somewhat nifty trick in getting into Arborstone - if you have more Luxon faction kill yourself outside Tanglewood Copse in Arborstone -- you will res at a shrine that is somewhere near the bottom left-side corner of the map.

Yes that is the case, Quaker was a bit incomplete on his info. The special case of Unwaking Waters is that there is only one res shrine in the zone and it's a faction controlled one. Many (all?) other kurz/lux zones have independent shrines (without luxon/kurzick priests).

Kurzick territory does at least -- have independent shrines. Haven't tested the Luxon side yet.

As for Unwaking Waters (Before EotN came out) my warrior was at the receiving end of learning the hard way about needing to active that single res shrine when she attempted to VQ the area (3 x times).

I don't get what the thing with unwaking waters is... I often res just outside the outpost (not at the shrine) and can happily continue from there.
Actually that seems to happen even with the shrine activated, as when you get further away from the shrine you are somehow closer to the entrance due to spiraling thingie.
Now I usually activate the shrine... but if I can res at town entrance even after activating the shrine, why wouldn't I res there if I didn't activate it?

To op. my guess is that those 2 cases was caused by lag, never heard of any bug doing that, however I can see a case of lag doing something like that. Think I might have had something similar once, with lag and timer still working although everything else is frozen.

Bug. Occasionally characters not allied with the defeated resurrection shrine NPCs will resurrect at the portal to the temple.

Guess the same is true even if you activate it.

Luxon areas do as well.

Why no, I wasn't taking advantage of that to do chest runs the other day, not at all

actually if you are the same faction as the one that controls the shrine in unwaking waters and you do not get to the shrine, you will be rezzed at the front door. If you are not allied, you will get the defeated party script and be teleported back to the temple.

I had that happened to me once too, one thing i found out that was weird was guild wars decided i needed to have windows media center compatibility, once i undid that, the game had a ton less lag.

For Unwaking waters (explorable, not the mission) - I've usually rezzed just outside the portal from Harvest Temple. There is a "bug" with that, in that you (or a party member) can sometimes rez so close to the portal that you basically activate it and end up back in Harvest Temple - but I did rez. (Of course, such things are subject to change during an update.)

For rezzing in Luxon/Kurzick territory - if "ownership" of the zone is split, perhaps you will rez at the nearest "friendly" rez shrine (or perhaps randomly).
If the entire zone is "unfriendly", you either rez at the shrine where you entered, or just outside the portal where you entered, but you do rez. Some people may get screwed up by rezzing too close to the portal - it does only require a small mistep, in that case, to re-enter the outpost.

All this is, as I said, subject to change due to updates. I can't say I've done any "unfriendly" rezzing around there for quite some time (maybe even years), as I usually pay for a rez shrine to get the Luxon/Kurzick points.
And all that has nothing to do with the OP's problem anyway.

Just a last note on the Unwaking Waters discussion. Just tested it with two accounts, one with more luxon than kurzick faction, the other with more kurzick than luxon faction.

Unwaking Waters (explorable) was under Luxon control, I died at the first group without activating the shrine.
- Luxon account: res at portal.
- Kurzick account: party defeated message.

Note that the kurzick account did not res so close to the portal that it was activated. Upon death, a party defeated, return to outpost message appeared.

Edit: tested it also in a group with multiple people. As long as there is at least one person who has more of the controlling faction, you will res at the portal.

I'm going on pretty much what the wiki says about the behaviour of shrines in faction-controlled areas, and so far my own testing plays this out. If you enter a zone from an outpost controlled by the opposite faction you will not res at that shrine (next to that outpost) if it is not activated. Assuming no other shrine is activated, you will res at the nearest "friendly" or neutral (unmanned) shrine. In the case of an entire "unfriendly" zone you will res at a neutral shrine. (Unwaking Waters being the only exception.)

Completely understandable. What I haven't tested is whether or not this "faction-death jumping" will work in unexplored (fogged) faction-controlled areas.

I just tested it out myself; took my Assassin out into Ferndale (not explored at all) with more Luxon faction and died; I was ressed at a neutral shrine. Screencap is attached.

(edited caps just to blur out names)