Started a new character and have thusfar not had -any- vamp attacks even though level 17. The major difference from other playthroughs is that I have yet to visit Whiterun. I can't imagine that's the reason but it is pretty weird.

I'm also keeping to the smaller villages (Falkreath and Riverwood) though stayed for a long time in Windhelm.

Xbox 360.

Have you actually started Dawnguard though? If you have its strange you did not have an attack in Windhelm as that was one of the first places i saw an attack.

On my new playthrough, I spent ages stuck on level 9, since I did not feel ready to handle vampires. After a while, I got sick of getting whooped by Chaurus and Spriggans and so leveled. I'm now level 13, and still haven't seen my first vampire attack although Durak appeared with his Dawnguard invitation the moment I hit level 10.

I did speak to Isran and get the quest to go to Dimhollow, although I have yet to make the trip there. Maybe at this stage there are no, or less vampire attacks? I've been looking forward to them, especially in Whiterun, where two Redguards claiming to be Alik'r agents are still standing like fools outside Warmaiden's waiting for me to hear them out regarding their demands. Should be fun if the vamps spawn there!

I started a new character and had my first attack at level 22. It happended when I fast traveled to Whiterun and arrived at 2AM. I have not started the Dawnguard quest or the MQ. I'm playing on the PC running 1.8 Beta.

I have been fast traveling everywhere but I've noticed in the past that at this stage (haven't visited Fort DG yet), arriving after mid-night in a town tends to increase the chance of a vampire attack. On another character I stalled at Chasing Echoes and noticed the vampire will attack during the day. In that game, the attack occurred every 7 days.

Well i thought they did not attack to you accept the quest i did and my first attack was at whiterun around level 14-15 ish

The vampire attacks are nothing to do with the Dawnguard, they can attack towns as soon as you hear about the attacks, maybe before if you get a glitch.

My first character visited Windhelm just after the DLC was installed, heard about the attacks from a guard and immediately got one. He was attacked at every town he entered till he finally went and joined the Dawnguard, then he was still attacked so decided to do the quests and become a vampire to see if he could get an easier life. He dumped Serana as soon as he could and went back to what he had been doing for a rest. I am not that much at using followers and Serana had been too glitchy, if I could have done the questline without her I would have.

Second character heard about the attacks and the Dawnguard on the first town she entered, nothing happened, she went off adventuring and doing quests, some person from the Dawnguard eventually caught up with her and told her about the Dawnguard, she was interested but in no hurry. She went up 20 levels from when she first heard of the attacks and never got an attack. At about level 50 she went off and joined the Dawnguard, then she got lots of attacks. She had even more problems with Serana, was not interested in vampires so dumped her at the Fort and took off to recover.

The third character started at level 10, heard nothing about attacks till he got to level 17, the Dawnguard recruiter caught up to him and still nothing happened, which was fine, Rork is hopeless at fighting I hardly let him out these days it was such a waste of time creating an Orc Warrior. Out of curiosity I might go back and continue his quest to get to some peace talks, just to see how long it takes for him to get an attack. He has to eventually get better at surviving, I think he managed to get to level 22 before I lost interest. Rork is not really intending on joining any Dawnguard without a lot of encouragement, he would rather just continue what he is doing.

You have to start the dawnguard questline. Once i started a new character and only started the main quest, but i had the dawnguard expansion on and i didnt get any vampire attacks at cities. But maybe you only have to talk to Durak in the begining in whiterun and activate the questline and you'll start getting random vampire attacks.

I've had two attacks by level 20. I have talked to Durok ("Where do I sign up?" ::promptly forget:. For what its worth this character is focusing on building a home and family (Lakeview). I have a feeling it has something to do with avoiding the bigger cities, but I could be wrong.

I did talk to Durak and responded "Where do I sign up?" at level 12 but did not have an attack until level 22. I have not visited Fort Dawnguard. I can provoke an attack by fast traveling and arriving after midnight. BTW, fast traveling to Whiterun Stables can still trigger an attack in Whiterun. I fast traveled to the stables, arrived at 2AM, waited until 7AM and ran to the city gates. As soon as I entered, the Blacksmith was killed. The attack was already in progress; the vampires did not appear behind you like when you fast traveled into the city. Good thing I already made a save before traveling to the stables.

At this stage, I have been able to control the attacks by avoiding fast traveling to cities late at night.

I got my first vampire attack today. I met Duran immediately once I hit level 10, went to see Isran, got my crossbow and some nice stuff from the Dawnguard castle, and promptly forgot about needing to visit the place he told me to. I'm now level 15, and only go back to Dawnguard castle to loot the respawning fish barrels. When the attack happened it was quite a pleasant surprise too - I thought I had broken something in the game. Unfortunately, the vampire and his two thralls chose to attack Whiterun, where I had posted those two Redguards from "In My Time of Need" just at the Whiterun gates (if you don't complete the conversation with them, they never go to Rorikstead and just wait outside Warmaiden's until you speak to them. They'll be the nearest to the vampires when they spawn, and they are essential). No casualties, although one essential Redguard was crawling on his knees, meaning it could have been bad had they not been around.