So, I thought that the Vampire attacks that come with Dawnguard wouldn't actually start until I began the quest line and ticked off the Volkihar.
I was quickly disabused of that notion when I walked into Whiterun on my newest character at about level 10 and found a Master Vampire waiting for me.

This time wasn't a problem, because there was only him and he was focussed on me, which stopped him from killing off Adrianne and anyone unlucky enough to be nearby, which has happened before.

So, the question part to get out of the way first; If you complete the Dawnguard questline on the side of the Dawnguard, do the vampire attacks stop? If so, I'll simply run through that, being careful with towns until the bloodsvckers are all dead. I know that if you side with the Volkihar the attacks seem to stop, so this is only a 'good guy' (depending on your stance I guess) issue.

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Following on from that, I'm certain I'm not the only one who finds the fact that going into towns can now be fatal for NPCs, some of which are quite good characters/have useful functions. Whiterun, especially, actually make no damn sense. It's not exactly lightly guarded. And, while Volkihar seem to have their own lore, if it matters at all then Whiterun has two patches of running water that'd need crossing.

Vampire attacks out in the country I can deal with. That's fine. If they kill me, that's my own damn fault.
It is NOT cool, or even remotely fun (i.e, the entire point of a game) to have NPCs getting killed off with you not able to do anything. I can't be the only one who's fast travelled to Dragons-Reach, walked back through town, and then found a bunch of dead NPCs and some guards still fighting a bunch of vampires and death hounds. It wouldn't even be a problem if the NPCs weren't so damn suicidal! I've had to reload numerous times on my main save because Idolaf and Adrianne kept getting themselves killed. They always, without fail, get themselves killed. I usually find the vampires easy, but the NPCs clearly don't. So WHY are they so hellbent on getting killed?


My request/suggestion, then. Which could also expand to Dragon attacks in villages/outdoors cities;

EITHER:
-Remove Vampire attacks from towns. The fact they can just stroll in and cause havoc isn't believable and, more importantly, not fun. It doesn't 'make you react' or 'make the danger real' like some people seem to claim. When you have to run halfway down the hill to join the fight, NPCs are guarentee'd to get themselves killed. Not a challenge, not 'difficult', not fun.

OR:
-Make NPCs except for guards flee from Vampire attacks (like, you know, real SENSIBLE people would...) and let them hide in houses, etc etc. That way the people who want attacks to carry on are happy, and those of us who are sick of NPCs we quite like getting slaughtered are happy.

So. Just throwing that out there (And getting ready for inevitable flaming...) An answer to the question part would be prime =]

I've completed dawnguard AS a vampire, and from what I can tell vampires (and dawnguard) still attacks towns frequently. Dawnguard even being human, often attack towns more than Vampires but it's still really freaking annoying. I know exactly how you feel about NPC's dying all the time especially if they're a freaking blacksmith or shop owner, that really pisses me off how every NPC that's named will still try and fight every freaking thing that comes near a town and they generally always die. It doesn't matter if only primary quest people don't die because there are already dozens of npc's that are not "Primary" quest npc's that still die that have a quest that has to do with them in one way or another.

I just wish that NPC's that have an actual name run inside when a town is under attack and only let guards attack or if it's like whiterun - the companions (or any faction that is based in a town) should help.. Not shop owners and black smiths and other random people.

Oh, joy. Well, that's really rather annoying then =/ I wouldn't mind so much if you could stop them by completing the quest line, but...really?

And I don't want to unload Dawnguard becuase: 1) Xbox, takes too much time, 2) Really do not want to mess up my highest level character, 3) the rest of the Dawnguard stuff works just fine (except the bugs, obviously, like Breezehome)... I just really hate NPCs dying without any choice in it. Dragons, yeah, fine, I get that. And they at least are easy to get to target you. And to kill. The vampires are just bloody annoying, and un-fun.

Well I'm sure they'll fix some of the things in the 1.8 update when it comes out but I dont think they're ever going to fix the stupid NPC problem since I've been saying that since the game came out.. For some reason I kept having problems every time I'd go to the Mages Guild and to Riverwood, they'd always be under attack by a dragon every other day and if one attacked Riverwood, it'd wipe out half the town. Which was one of my biggest trading ports because of Alvor.

I completely agree with you. I can handle attacks in the wild but keep them outta towns. Its forcing me to complete Dawnguard with all my characters, abandoning all other quests they were currently on. Its annoying I agree. I hadn't played my lv23 mage and when I loaded her up the other day and exited the Windhelm palace she was instantly attacked by 3 vampires. That svcked a lot as she is a mage and I was in fear of killing NPC with magic.

Also hopefully dawnguard won't bug for any of my characters. apparently random attacks stop after completing it (if you sided with the Dawnguard) I sided with the dawnguard on my only completion and have not seen vampires in towns since. However on the PC, I use a mod that stops the random attacks also.

All this does keep tempting me to cave and buy the PC version. I can always hook my Xbox controller up to the PC, right?
Then I can mod the NPCs I like to be Essential...and un-mod people like the Stormcloak/Imperial leaders in the wilderness camps who, even after the main quest is over, are still unkillable....cheating haxxers lol.

But yeah, really not fond of the Vampire attacks =/ Especially given the rest of the DLC is great (for me/my opinion, anyway. I know others disagree, lol)

That's another thing I hate, them damn stormcloak captians that you can never kill no matter what.

The silence is reassuring, heh

A. Random attacks don't stop...

B. City attacks may stop, but if you take suitable precautions they either won't happen, or you can prevent too much damage happening...

C. What unkillable Stormcloak captains? That may only be the case if you haven't progressed far into the civil war story line, which means they may still be needed for it.

The army generals are pernamently maked essential even after completeing the Civil War quest. I'm guessing that's what he's talking about. And yes Kyle, you can do all that you have stated with mods on the pc.

I completed Dawnguard and the vampire attacks completely stopped for me. Everyone I know that has completed Dawnguard on either the vampire or Dawnguard side also have no more vampire town attacks.


Also, I'm sure you're well aware of this but just make sure you save often. That way if a merchant or one of your favorite NPCs gets killed, you can reload and protect them. It's frustrating seeing as how that's what you have to do in order to keep store owners and other NPCs alive but it is what it is I guess.

the attacks are meant to stop, but sometimes they don't (bug)

And vampires in this game can cross running water, they just cant swim in VL form xD

Ok, then there is some hope yet.

Although I've left Serana hanging around the Soul Cairn portal while I finally get on with the main quest (What part of 'Stealth' and 'Stop ressurecting every Oblivion damned corpse and aggroing EVERYTHING in the damn room' does that dumb bat not get?! It's a shame, because she's a great character, just a terrible stealth companion). Because I hate the fact you HAVE to go through the Mages College, even on a non-magical character, so I might as well kill two birds with one stone, and also get in using a shout.