That, and you can make any other house carl a steward, so basically, you get two guards.

i see your point with the 2 "guards" but i just don't think it's up to me,you or whoever to poo poo everyone's ideas if some people want it and bethesda wants to listen and add something in a patch,as long as it's a option like building a guardhouse or lookout tower,a fence or wall.nobody's going to be bothered by it,so i don't get all the nay saying or watever

i see your point with the 2 "guards" but i just don't think it's up to me,you or whoever to poo poo everyone's ideas if some people want it and bethesda wants to listen and add something in a patch,as long as it's a option like building a guardhouse or lookout tower,a fence or wall.nobody's going to be bothered by it,so i don't get all the nay saying or watever

For the average player that knows what they're doing, you can do something about the attacks. Just kill them. Giants are tough for low leveled charactes, but the house itself and the environment gives the player many options. You dont suffer from the brave yet weak npc thing, because the spouse runs away if theyre not a fighter, kids are invinsible, and you have a steward and house carl that help defend the home. Not only that, but if its really a problem, you can even choose to build a tower to shoot arrows from, or worst case scenario, move to one of the other new home locations with less disturbance. If you dont want to do that, just move them into the city, and wait til you're a higher level so you can deal with the giants and such easier. I'm not trying to start an argument, but I dont understand why people say they want less hand holding, and say that the game is too easy, yet cant solve problems like this for themselves.

I don't think its so much the difficulty of defending against these attacks, its just getting annoying have to do it all the time. All of the parts of the game that were not about combat, now have combat forced on you all the time. It gets old having to run and check the front gate for vamp attacks everytime I leave a building, more so in places like riften that can have vamps attacking day or night often. Now we can't even have a home without stepping out the front door for bandits, dragon, giant etc attacks....and even attacks in the home.

I'm not trying to "poopoo" on ideas, I'm trying to give suggestions, so people dont throw out ideas that most likely wont be implemented anytime soon. Its better to give in game suggestions than hope for something that is not coming. The two guards/steward/housecarls is more than adequate. And like a few including myself have already stated, you can even make a few towers.

Noone's starting arguments here, and as far as I've noticed, it's not about people being unable to handle the issues of attacks, but some players just not finding this feature to be something that particularly enhances the game.
As I wrote in my previous post, I don't have the DLC yet, so I cannot tell whether the attacks will be a particular nuisance to me or not. Still, if there are conceivable ingame ways (which are also realistic and coherent with Skyrim world) of either eliminating these attacks or making them less likely to occur or giving you some help when dealing with them, then I see no reason why we shouldn't be giving ideas about them here and slightly 'pushing' Bethesda to give us such options. If someone finds them unnecessary, fine, no need to use them, just like it's not obligatory to go to the face sculptor when you have Dawnguard.

Btw, I understand you can have both a stuart and a housecarl, but my point with guards or mercenaries was that someone would be actually permanently outside the house - as far as I undestand, housecarls and stuarts either go in and out or stay inside.

One more thing - any feedback on the idea of minor quests being given by the kid/spouse/stuart? I'd like to know what you guys think about that.

Your idea for the minor quests would be ok, but it seems that you want this to replace the attacks right? People like me like these attacks, and would not want them to be replaced by yet another chain of go kill this quests.

Not really replace, I rather meant it as an additonal feature. Although if on top of that you were given an option to eliminate/reduce attacks, then yes, for people who choose to use the option that would be, in practice, a replacement. People who like attacks would get both attacks and quests.

i'm wondering what happens to the skeever carcass', do they vanish after awhile like they should or remain as litter in your basemant? Alvor the blacksmith died in front of his forge months ago and his body is still there so lets hope the same doesn't go for the skeevers

Some bodies despawn/respawn, some hang around until they are completely looted and some stay forever. I once had a Thief in Riften who stayed for about an in-game month, I ended up getting rid of the body with the developer console.

The worst thing I think is if you have a follow that uses raise dead (like Serana) then there is going to be a build up of ash piles in and around your home.

I wouldnt mind it being implemented with the current system, or even replacing some of the events. Where would the option be to replace it though? Maybe in the settings? If you want that, you might as well just temporarily down the difficulty, which is just as effective.

Hmm, I actually like the notion of an additional slider in the settings where you can choose between 'more attacks', 'even number of attacks and quests' and 'more quests'. Good Idea. When I was writing the previous post, I was thinking of the 'replace' bit happening when you build a guard house and hire x number of guards. But your idea works even better, I think - not sure which one would be easier to code for the game team.

Honestly, if the Giant Camps in the Pale bother people so much just go clear them out before you build. Or build somewhere else.

So who the hell is the developer that, for whatever reason, thinks we love tedious, repetitive attacks?

Cause omg fire him already.

Yep.
I was forging some locks at the anvil, minding my business, as you do, and the next thing a giant smacks me with his club for no reason whatsoever.
Last time I checked there we no giant camps in the area, my animals stayed in their pens, my kids and wife were inside, and I did not touch a single mammoth.
So why, why the heck, would I get attacked!?
And if I was role-playing, as you do, and went hunting with nothing more than a simple bow, some arrows and a vest, I'd die...
How is that a "Fun" feature?..

They respawn over time, and correct me if I'm wrong, but the Giants which attack your house don't come from the camps, they just spawn randomly.

Again, the steward of Whiterun got nervous sending only four(?) guards down to Riverwood, which is a town. That's the situation Skyrim is in right now. Any kind of movement dealing with even a small force of men could be taken as preporation for an attack. Just because you know you only have two guards, doesn't mean the nearby Jarls would think differently. And the game doesn't need to have the npcs react to player actions like we believe they will.

And if we're going to pull the "games are suppose to be fun" card, then I feel the need to point out the fact that the word fun is very very subjective. I believe you guys have the right to say that this feature isn't fun, I'd be inclined to agree, but I also reserve the right to point out that this is a very small annoyance and I don't think it holds any weight. It's just there to give the homes inside the city walls a long term reason to live there.

Everything else you point out, I already adressed in the very post you quoted. In-city homes being quicker to aquire and furnish are very short term, and in a long term game like Skyrim, just doesn't hold any real noticable negative. Shops? You can move into your player-made homes with your wife, who can open a well stocked shop right in your house. Quest givers may be in cities, but there are miles of wilderness to explore just outside your player-built homes where you can stumble on quests anyway. The only long term downside player-built homes have over pre-built city ones, are these attacks. Everything else is negligable either way.

Oh yeah, and since we are talking about the wall thing, put it like this. Skyrim is ripe with tension considering the dragons and the war, and if the almighty Dragonborn suddenly conjures up a huge manor and surrounds it with battlements, what are the Jarls going to think?