So, I know that the whole 'defend your home!' thing is advertised like it's a feature, but...

I just walked out my door to come face to knee with a Giant. Fortunately, the great dumb brute didn't attack instantly, meaning I had time to sneak off, find a good rock to sit on and then snipe his brain out (hey, not letting the loot go...)
And then I wandered to the cellar for some more crafting...and get jumped by four skeevers.

I'm not sure which bright spark thought that was 'fun', but I certainly disagree. I wouldn't mind if, y'know, it was something that happened until you took certain steps. Y'know, a cellar upgrade that stopped Skeevers getting in, Giant and Bandit detterants...whatever. But there's no option. It's a 'Deal with it' situation. And it's a letdown, given how much fun I'm personally finding the actual house building.


Anyone else got any thoughts on it? =/

I guess I won't bother with the cellar.

Was in the middle of building my house in Falkreath when an ancient dragon came and turned me into a chew toy.

So yeah, that was a bit annoying.

But I like the many safes.
Keeps all my goods safe x10.

Other than Skeever infestation, the Cellar is brilliant. Smelter, Forge, weapon stuff. I might be skipping the armoury in favour of something else, given I can pretty much do everything in the Cellar. Workbench, grindstone. It's good....apart from the damn rats. About which you can do nothing =/ I shouldn't have to wear armour inside, for Talos' sakes.

How many attacks are there? And do certain houses get attacked more than others?

so im guessing beth is gonna add some stupid "attack" with every dlc?

As an alchemy user, I personally welcome an endless supply of giant toes.

Outside you either get Bandits or a Giant, in the Cellar you get Skeevers. I have no idea if there is any pattern or what, I only have the Falkreath house and still slowly building that.

For what would have been an entirely fun little DLC, this certainly takes some of the shine off. Not enough to do a stupid rage post, hell no. But I don't see what 'fun' it adds to what was already perfectly fun without then ruining it with attacks.
Dawnguard was genuinely bad enough and not fun for that...

Sure. But I like to pick fights on MY terms, and preferably with a nice clear shooting range to snipe them with (on this character).
Not come out the front door and nearly catch a knee in the face =/

Agreed. My character isn't an alchemist, but the giant's toes are a good ingredient for some expensive potions that can make some good coin. Perhaps this reason can shine some light on the problem with attacks. As for the skeevers, well, they're skeevers. Just kick them.

Either way, when I get Hearthfire, I will probably find the attacks as annoying as others do.

Ugh. I hope not. I've been lucky with the vamp attacks. But c'mon.

You mean you don't like fighting off the same enemy types over and over and over?!?

Agreed. I've had to deal with numerous homestead attacks already. I can go almost anywhere to fight something. Having to contend with it on my own front lawn is neither "fun" nor "challenging." It's annoying, and it was an ill-considered mechanic.

Personally, I love the whole 'home invasion' aspect of the DLC. It adds more immersion value to the game, as you are taking the risks to live in the middle of nowhere, where bandits, dragons, giants and mudcrabs roam free.

Sums it up perfectly, really. I could live with it if there was something you could do to stop the attacks. Like buying Skeever poison. No visual effect, just stopped them coming in. And....I dunno. Bad luck charms that would scare the giants off, or something. Painted swirls on some nearby trees.
Maybe some skeletons strung from trees to give the bandits the damn hint

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

Cause omg fire him already.

Skyrim is painted as a dangerous wild untaimed land. Living outside city walls with no guards should come with risks.

I walked out of the house to follow my kid that I had just told to go play outside, when as soon as I stepped foot out the door, a frost dragon landed practically on top of my kid. The child wisely ran off to go fishing or something, and my steward, follower, and I did battle with the dragon. Oh yeah, and my brand-new horse, who died immediately, which was awesome. Then, after slaying the dragon, I had the same thing happen to me as the OP: my steward told me that she had heard skeevers in the cellar, which I then proceeded to slaughter. Everything happening at once is not exactly fun, especially since my current char is not really a fighter, so much as an illusionist and healer.

So....let us hire guards? A one off payment for monster detterance sounds perfectly fine to me.

Also, how in the name of Oblivion are Skeevers meant to get into a solid stone cellar with no holes, no gaps, no nothing? That's not 'a danger' that's 'stretching the envelope of disbelieve into troll dropping levels'.

I would LOVE this option. Multiple guards would be nice, preferably guards you could either outfit individually, or pay to outfit them all at once with generic armor ranging all the way up to daedric. Also, hiring armored frost trolls from Gunmar or Death Hounds from whoever @ Castle Volkihar would be a cool option.

Skyrim's in the middle of a civil war. The steward of Whiterun was worried about sending guards to Riverwood, a small town. If another hold saw you amassing a small garrison of troops at a single location, you'd probably have to worry about enemy scouts and full on organized raids from the Stormcloaks/Imperials rather than giants.

And they're rats, they get into places they shouldn't. That's what they do. Our normal earth rats can chew their way almost anywhere, and Skyrim got their rats supersized. If they left a hole in our walls, we'd be having a whole different conversation about how the rats are distroying homes. But building a home in the middle of no where, especially in such a cold climate, would attract animals of all sizes to both the smell of food and the warmth and shelter of the building. It would be strange if nothing got in, because Skyrim is suppose to be a dangerous and harsh place to live. If this was Cyrodil, a generally safer place, I might agree that attacks on houses is a little much, but it's Skyrim.

Thank goodness I don't RP the town drunk or something. I look forward to cutting down Giants and Bandits alike.

I agree, i started a new guy for this & was really happy with the cow i just got, woke up the next morning, walked out the door....giant sends me flying into the air.

Alright, twofold counters:

In-game, in-character:

Mercenaries. There seems to be a small army of potential followers sat around, quaffing mead and not giving two damns about the war until you wave a bag that goes 'clink' in front of their eyes. Or until you punch them in the face. Whatever works. I was never talking about town guard. And that argument is already invalid, given the small private force on the Golden Glow estate, that only the Thieves Guild actually gives two damns about. Or the Black Briars and their Steel Plate mercenaries? No one bothers them, either. (Well, except me, but that's my job. Sort of. They have loot, shut up.)

Also, trained guard dogs? Making the place smell like something scary to keep them out? There are a whole plethora of in-character reasons to be perfectly able to keep stuff away. So, sorry, 'It's Skyrim' does not in anyway cut it.


Meta-Game argument:

While some people might find it fun, I, and others, do not. We would like an option to STOP the things that are not fun, besides the obvious 'Well, don't bother then', because that's a blatantly stupid argument from the get go. A perfectly functional (and fun) DLC should not be marred by one annoying feature that there is NO workaround for, except probably for PC users when they get it, thanks to the glory of mods...

I don't find Skeevers in the cellar fun. I don't find a Giant right on my doorstep fun. Fighting those things in the wild or in dungeons is perfectly fine. I can very easily take them or leave them. I would like that same basic option extended to the DLC houses, with an in-game cost if necessary. I don't see how that's such a bad thing to ask for, no?