I have come to the conclusion as playing different characters that unless I am ready to play Dawnguard non-stop, from beginning to end, it needs to be shut off. The DLC literally takes over the game. It’s so easy to not do the MQ. In fact even after you do the MQ nothing changes (still dragons, people don’t recognize it, etc.). But with DG if you do not complete it as soon as possible you end up with dead NPC’s all over the place. And it is not just in the towns, but the wilderness also. Sure I get a few dragons to go after me in the wild, but the vamp attacks can be wicked and there is no way to really outrun or hide from them.

Does anyone else feel that DG has too much control of the overall world and is near impossible to just ignore until you think you are ready to do it?

Kinda agree, the solution to this would be to make merchants and such actually run when under attack. I mean do you honestly believe that they're going to pull out a kitchen knife and start attacking a giant/vampire/dragon or great sword toting main character? No, they're out matched and should try to run.

I shut off Dawnguard until I'm ready to blitz through the main quest too. I just don't want to babysit towns, save before entering and go looking for a vampire raid every time I enter or go near a settlement.