So I was in Solitude, and a pair of Dragons attacked (deadly dragons mod so these guys are absolute beasts). While furiously fighting them off in order to save the town, I hit one of the guards by mistake. I didn't kill him, just hit him. Now every single NPC in Solitude shifted their focus from the two monsters whose sole aim is to destroy mankind and started attacking me, the Dovakiin and savior of mankind. So I obviously died to to the overwhelming amount of damage I took in and man this just pisses me off to no end how stupid it was. I remember in Oblivion there were some quests which involved a large amount of NPC's and if you accidently hit one of them in combat it wouldn't be counted against you, unless you just started wailing out on them or something. I'm not sure why this was changed.

Guess they decided friendly fire was a no-no.

that's a classic elder scrolls thing, it won't be a ture elder scrolls whitout that problem

The mob mentality thing is pretty annoying. It's hilarious in Riften when you drop stuff, though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GhKwoWjAVk

It seems mob mentality is the favorite battle strategy all over Tamriel.

I find it funny all the time. You're lucky you got Dragons attacking in a town. Still waiting for my moment.

Happened to me literally hundreds of times, and I can agree, it's kind of dumb.

There should be a script in the game that causes all NPC's including those originally hostile to you (bandits etc.) to shift all focus to a Dragon if it attacks, and they won't stop fighting the Dragon until it dies. Afterwards they can go back to their normal behavior. It shouldn't be to hard to make a mod that does this, maybe there is one already but I haven't heard of it.

"Nobody cares about your gripes"

Or atleast that is what they said to me when I made a post about how stupid the AI is.

If you incidentaly hit an NPC, you can "yield" though.

I agree, that is annoying ... but let's think about it realistically. You're in a war, fighting the enemy with your comrades. You accidentally shoot one of those comrades, causing him serious injuries. Do you think he'd say 'ah, don't worry about it. It's all fine!'

But as Nyctihawk said, you can yield ... Or just run for dear life.

I've repeatedly tried this in Riften and have yet to start a riot. Whether or not I'm known and loved in town, or someone to be hated hasn't seemed to make a bit of difference.

Hah! I haven't eperienced this in any previous ES game, but in Skyrim, there was a town (to remain nameless) where this same thing appened to me. I kept playing after killing the (there was only one) dragon, but I could never return to that town. Fortunately, it was a minor town.

It's true. In Oblivion, I accidentally hit an Imperial Soldier while we were fighting in the wilderness ... He decided to kill me rather than the minotaur.
In Morrowind, I don't haves this problem. NPCs in that game don't rush to help us like they do in Skyrim - technological restrictions of the time and such.

Tech restrictions, or "DUH"?

In Morrowind, right out of the gate, I led a kwama forager to Seyda Neen and the guards went overkill on it...that never happened in Skyrim (OTHER than with dragons). The guards just didn't care. Arrille appreciated the kwama skuttle.

When you first go into Whiterun tower, few bandits are fighting guards. I joined guards to fight bandits off. I accidently shot one of them guards with an arrow, but they didn't care too much, asked me if someone stole my sweet roll and that is it.

Gotta agree with you, however, when you think about it, the NPCs are just using the same strategy we all do. Kill the weaker guy first, then focus on the bigger baddie, lol. Also, I have to ask, has anyone accidentally hit Farkas when you first run into the Companions fighting that giant outside Whiterun? Last few playthroughs, I have accidentally tagged him with my weapon and one of the times ol' Farky chased me all the way to Windhelm. I kept stopping to fight something thinking, "surely he's gone back by now" but every time, there he was.

Its apart of the TES experience, you haven't lived until all of Balmora is running you down, or Imperia city guards chasing you through all the districts..
in fact its taken a step further in Skyrim, thinking about offing that chicken in the pens in some backwater settlement for a quick bite? yeah all of whiterun will have your head

2 normal dragons attacked Riverwood when I was fairly early in the game and killed nearly every NPC. It's a ghost town lol. The essential NPCs are still there, though, l

I have lived. Yes, I have lived.

Oh, boy, he's definitely the brawn of the two brothers. I happened to come across a trio of Thalmor while he was accompanying me as a shield-brother and, well, suffice it to say that I peeved them off and they began attacking me. I was relieved when he drew his blade, thinking he'd supply me with a bit of back-up, but to my astonishment he started wailing on me instead of the bloody elves! I bolted away - archers don't do too well in close-quarters combat - and all four of them came rushing after me. One of the Thalmor turned on Farkas during the fray and thankfully that reminded him that they were the enemy and not me, so it all ended well, but, c'mon! Does it really take a sword to the head to make him recognize his friends? Not cool, Farky. Not cool.

I've never had anybody turn around and attack me after one stray hit. They always just yell "Hey, watch it" or "I'm on your side" and go back to hitting the bad guys. Only if I persist do they attack me.