Hello,
80 or 800 tags is not high number per se, we work with thousands normally, but it all depends on how often you read/write them, or how often they change (in case of subscriptions).
When you do SubscribeItem, you will get notification all the time until you call UnsubscribeItems. The HoldPeriod is only an internal optimization, and only applies AFTER you unsubscribe. It means (roughly) that after UnsubscribeItem, the actual OPC subscription is not immediately removed, but is held for certain period. The reason why HoldPeriod exists is that many applications such as HMI-like apps have forms that subscribe to a set of items, and if you switch to a different form, there may be many same items, and it would be unnecessary to unsubscribe from an item and then subscribe to it again in just a few milliseconds. If your application is not alike this scenario, you can set HoldPeriod to zero. I do no see, however, how HoldPeriod can have anything to do with your issue.
I'd like to reinstate the fact the "Device failure" quality is something that should indicate device failures, and can only come from the target OPC server. If it is generated in situations when it should not, you need to investigate on the OPC Server side, not on the client side.
Best regards