Or does it only happen after level 10? I'm asking simply because it seems like a waste to have this faction if you don't have an opportunity to know them prior to the start of the questline (i.e. how could a player who started Skyrim in the eventual GOTY know who they even were?)

Yes, it kills off their hall.

The funny thing being if you run into anymore Vigilants they will direct you to their destroyed hall.

Eh I normally kill any I come across anyway with the mace of molag bal I like to think that smashing them in the face with his mace would send their souls to coldharbour.

They still walk around telling you the usual stuff, and I am pretty sure Stendarr's Beacon is still there, it was only the Hall of the Vigilant that was destroyed.

To answer the OP's question, it only gets destroyed either after level 10, or, the most likely one, starting the Dawnguard questline. I can't give a solid answer on which one it is, but before that the place is untouched.
I visited it so I can steal all their stuff and visit their magically disappearing basemant before the place gets destroyed (and the basemant disappears).

And 2 vigilantes play small but important roles.

I see them traveling the roads every now and again.

I once had Meridia send me to the basemant of the Hall of the Vigilants to get her beacon. Does anybody know if this possibility was taken into account by the plug-in?

I would also like to know this. I too once found the beacon in the Vigilant basemant also.

Sounds like a bug.

Hopefully it gets fixed...

Wasn't there a trainer in the Hall of Vigilant I wonder what happened to her.

She's dead, one of the vigilantist at the beginning says shes dead.

I may be alone on this, but it feels like the Dawguard are just a rip of of the Vigiliants.

The Vigiliants for all intents and purposes are a faction. They have a named NPC leader (Keeper Carcette),They point yolu to their hall, they seem like a quest line that was abandoned for the final version of vanilla Skyrim. That was later made Dawnguard. Dawguard = The orginal Vigilant quests that should have been in skyrim on launch day.

ahh i miss the days where DLC was you know...actually part of the base game......as it should have been.

OMG do not get me started about what danwguard added to base Skyrim, DO NOT!!!!

I know what Dawnguard added to the base Skyrim.

I am saying that the quests and story of Dawnguard is probably the story they orginially intended to have for the Vigiliants of Stendarr before they decided to not put it in the Base skyrim.

why would you create:

1. A named leader of the Vigiliants (Keeper Carcette)
2. Have NPC Vigiliants directing you to their hall (much like stormcloaks and imperiels direct you to Tullius or Ulfric)

A vigil even gets yu started on Molag Bal's quest.....you can clearly tell that the Vigilants were supposed to be a quest in the base game that Bethesda scrapped...they scrapped it beause they wanted it to be the Dawguaard story.....IE: they wanted to charge you extra money for the quest line that was origina;;y supposed to be the Vigiliants quests they removed from the base game before the 11/11/11 launch.

I got dawnguard...i personally do not feel it was worth 20 bucks...Knights of the Nine was bigger and only cost 800 MS points...Dawnguard was worth 800 MS points, not 1600.......thats my opinion...look im used to Tribunal, bloodmoon, Knights of the Nine, Shivering Isles,...this DLC was not worth 1600 MS points...it was worth 800....i won't make the mistake of buying the next one on launch day......thats my opinion.......

Yea because KOTN existed before...and tribunal...I don't even think shivering isles had a name before dlc...
oh and KOTN was 20 at launch and has less content then dawnguard by far.

Knights of the was not bigger. And the vigiliatnts did get attention in this DLC. (yOU KNOW WHAT IM GOING TO MAKE A LIST TO COMPARE THEM)

before i crash, if you think Dawguard was good for 20 bucks, you must not have played TES previous DLC/Expansions....when comparing Dawnguard to them....its not worth its prie tag. thats just my take....hopefully the next one is better.

LOL, when isran or whoever said the vampires destroyed their hall in the back of my mind I was thinking "That wasnt the vampires... *wink* *wink* "

true

im just saying i don't think Dawguard offers "enough" for its price tag...now if Dawguard only cost 800 MS points...you wouldn't hear a peep from me on this front...but its 1600 price tag IE: 20 bucks...its just not worth that..the content you get with Dawnguard is just not worth 20 bucks....this is even more apparent when you compare it with past Bethesda TES add ons....its just not worth 20 bucks...if it was a real expansion i could see the 20-25 dollar price tag...but for what this DLC is...its not worth 20 bucks....

We should expect and demand more from Bethesda for our money. The base Game was 60 bucks...for 20-25 bucks(a quarter of the cost of the base game) we should expect a real expansion and a lot more content then what was offered.......you gotta remember 20 bucks is half the cost of the whole game....for 10 dollars less you get 6-9 hours more content....its not worth it.....for that price tag...only an expansion is worth that kind a money, and for that price tag people should be demanding expansio type content for that price.

As i said don't get me wrong, if Dawguard was 10 bucks it would have been a good deal for what you got..bu for 20 bucks...no way.....not worth that in a million years.....only a real expansion is worth the 20-25 dollar price tag...and Dawguard is no expansion.

ok for the sake of argument we will say Dawguard and KOTN are close.

Even so....look at the price difference on launch between the two.....its not inflation....its called squeezing more money out of something....

as i said..if Dawguard was only 800 MS points (in line on price with KOTN as it should have been) you wouldn't hear a peep from me on this...I think Dawnguard would have been a good fair deal at 800 MS Points just like KOTN was...but at 1600 thats awful steep for what you get....

List to compare knights of the nine and Dawnguard.
Dawnguard
Creatures:
Charus Reapers
Armored trolls
Falmer Females
Frost giants
2 new types of undead
7 variants of new undead
Assorted creatures of the vale (They are different then the standard ones)
Gargoyles
Sprinngian Earth mothers.

Weapons
Aetherium Staff
Crossbow- DG members carry it
Enchanced Crossbow
Dwarven Crossbow-
Enchanced Dwarven Crossbow-
Zephyr Bow
Auriel's Bow
Dragonbone Weapon Set-
Harkon's Sword-
Knife
Dawnguard WarAxe-
Dawnguard Hammer
Dawnguard Runehammer
Dawnguard RuneAxe
Quests

Dawnguard quests

• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dawnguard_%28quest%29: Join the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dawnguard_%28faction%29

• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Awakening: Find out what the vampires are after.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Bloodline: Choose your side!
  
  • Join the Vampires.
    
    • http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Bloodstone_Chalice: Fill the Bloodstone Chalice from the Spring at http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Redwater_Den.
      
    • http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Prophet_%28Vampire%29: The time of prophecy has arrived, locate a Moth Priest for the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Vampire.
  • Join the Dawnguard.
    
    • http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:A_New_Order: Recruit http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Isran's old allies for the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dawnguard_%28faction%29.
      
    • http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Prophet_%28Hunter%29: The time of prophecy has arrived, locate a Moth Priest for the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dawnguard_%28faction%29.
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Chasing_Echoes: Explore http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Castle_Volkihar.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Scroll_Scouting: Obtain all three Elder Scrolls for http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dexion_Evicus.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Seeking_Disclosure: Bring the Elder Scrolls to http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dexion_Evicus.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Beyond_Death: Search for http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Valerica in the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Soul_Cairn.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Unseen_Visions: Perform a ceremony to read the Elder Scroll.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Touching_the_Sky: Find and retrieve http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Auriel%27s_Bow.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Kindred_Judgment: Confront http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Lord_Harkon.

Amulets of Night Power: Retrieve the Amulets of Night Power.

• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Ancient_Power: Retrieve vampire parts from varied locations around Skyrim.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Culling_the_Beast: http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Fura_Bloodmouth wants you to kill the thin-blooded vampires.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Deceiving_the_Herd: Frame the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dawnguard_%28faction%29 for murder.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Protecting_the_Bloodline: Recruit a new http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Vampire for the clan.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Rings_of_Blood_Magic: Retrieve the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Ring_of_the_Erudite and the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Ring_of_The_Beast.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Gift: Turn your http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Marriage into a http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Vampire.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Hunt: Kill the traveling target.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:New_Allegiances: Turn the target into a http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Vampire.
  Dawnguard Side Quests

• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Hide_and_Seek_%28quest%29: Kill a http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Vampire masquerading as a http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Visiting_Advisor.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Cleansing_Light: Kill a http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Volkihar_Master_Vampire.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Hunting_the_Monster: Destroy the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Vampire target.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Preemptive_Strike: Destroy the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Master_Vampire before it turns its allies.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Bolstering_the_Ranks: Rescue http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Florentius_Baenius from http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Ruunvald.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Ancient_Technology: Retrieve Dwemer schematics to improve technology for the http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dawnguard_%28faction%29.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Lost_Relic: Retrieve a relic of the original http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Dawnguard_%28faction%29.

Other Side Quests

• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Impatience_of_a_Saint: Collect the ten missing pages of http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Jiub Opus.
  
• http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Lost_to_the_Ages: Search for the Dwemer's http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:The_Aetherium_Forge.

Armour.
dawnguard, adds 10 (Not inclduing unqie shields)

If you go by that scale keep in mind that games always start at 60 bucks. If games were priced based on content skyrim would cost a whole lot more.

Looks at the list...Knights of the nine adds 2 sets of armor, 4 weapons, 8 new locations, and only around 8 quests, YEAH there very close...

SI>DG>KOTN