Hi!

I just got my Nord Ranger to a decent level and gear and it's ready to join DG but i haven't even started my Vampire war-mage yet.

Should i download DG or wait until i'm ready with both characters?

I want to know if the attacks start immediatly when you download DG or when you start a MQ in one of the factions.

I'm not going to visit any towns during the DG MQ when playing on my Nord Ranger but i'm scared that when i start my new Vampire character i'm going to have attacks on town even thou i'm not even going to start the MQ until decent level and gear.

So should i just start a new character and ''finish'' it and then download DG when both are ready? Or should i download DG and start my DG Nord and begin all new save with my new Vampire with DG installed.

They start before you join the Dawnguard, aka after your first breath in the magic land of Skyrim. And whenever is night you can encounter vampires and death hounds.

The attacks start at level 10.

They consist of master vamps - which are nasty for low level characters and fatal to town NPCs. There also seems to be a nasty bug which causes the attacks to be insanely frequent. Some players report attacks practically every time they enter town, leave their house etc. On the flipside I had one attack at level 10 with my current character, and haven't had another one in the next 8 level ups.

I'd recommend making a backup save before you download, just in case. If my attacks were as frequent as some are saying, I'd delete it off my HDD...

You guys didn't really answer my question.

I answered it. They appear as long as you have Dawnguard installed, maybe at level 10, just wait for them. Or just uninstall Dawnguard, make your character prepared and then install again.

My latest char had her first at level 6! So I would say pretty much straight away.

Lvl 8 been my lowest lvl for getting attacks....so far....

I never saw any attacks til my newest char (the first new one since I installed DG) was a lil past lvl 10, but I wouldn't doubt they can begin earlier. I cannot speak for everyone, but for me they have attacked often enough to be very annoying. In one instance I exited dragonreach (at night) and was going to the tavern or something, but it wasn't until after I left the inn that I realized that a group of vampires had spawned when I left dragonreach. I had to load up the auto save of when I left the castle and rush to the gate to prevent a few NPC death's.

I have three q's more!

I'm making a new char to become Vampire to play the vamp side of DG. So i'm going to make him level 10 and then download DG , is the DLC ''too'' hard at lvl 10?

And will bretons or dunmer get the gold vampire eyes?

And when i have joined the Volhikar(?) side of DG MQ , will i still get attacks from them to cities?

Thanks already!

1; You might struggle at lvl 10. I've found nearer 20 to be ideal but that's me !!
2; Don't know about Dunmer but my Breton got the eyes!
3; Yep.

Not true, it depends on what your character has done, how high their level of random events already is. I had one character have an attack in the first town he entered, before he had even heard of the Dawnguard and my other two characters happily went about doing the main game quests and got no attacks. One was a high level character, the other went from level 10 to level 21 with Dawnguard installed and never saw a single vampire anywhere. They would have to join the Dawnguard in order to get attacks. And vampire attacks can happen during the day as well, nothing to do with it being night.

The Character I already did the Dawnguard side on only had the initial attack on a town, when he 1st heard of vampire attacks and the Dawnguard reforming. He's finished the MQ but hasn't done all the raident quests yet. he was lvl 32 when he started DG, I would say he had an average amount of random encounters otherwise. he had NO town attacks except the 1st, I did not rush trough and he did go in and out of towns. He did have alot of attacks out in the wild though, everytime he left Ft DG and about 1/2 the time before he entered a town or entered Ft DG. Edit: he didn't fast travel, which maybe why he had alot of vampire attacks in the wild, he did have a lower lvl of dragon attacks.

My pure mage, now lvl 12 has not yet seen any vampire attacks, but he was asked if he wanted to join the DG and he said no. ( he won't be doing DG at all) So far I would say a normal amount of random encounters.

My assassin lvl 21 has had the initial attack and has been asked if she wanted to join, she said yes, but has not went to Ft DG yet. no other vampire attacks yet. she is in the middle of DB and two Deadric quest's that I want to finish 1st. I would say she has a low lvl of normal random encounters so far.

My character Braggen (70's when the DLC was added) who was attacked the instant he entered a town and several times after that in other towns without joining up had an extremely high level of random events before Dawnguard was installed. He had done ALL the questlines and was being chased all over skyrim by dragons. Could not enter Riften without something happening and when the horse combat was added ended up with mass spawning enemies when ever he fast travelled in the wilds. He also got a lot of the other random events that occurred in the wilds. The over achiever got vampire attacks in line with everything else he got. He joined the vampires only ended up with 5 walled town attacks, since completing Dawnguard he has had no town attacks and his dragon and mass spawning enemies have been toned down a bit.

Aussie was in the 50's when she started Dawnguard, she waited a long time to see what would happen, she was attacked by vampires in the wild, no attacks in towns. Aussie had only completed the civil war quest line(as a Stormcloak), never went far enough in the main questline for Alduin to go waking any dragons, only went as far in the Companions to become a werewolf. Had joined everything but the Dark Brotherhood and just not bothered much with quests. She was an explorer and liked having fun, buying houses, doing smaller quests and chasing Daedric artifacts for her collection. Aussie did not own any horses. I do not think she would have ever had a town attack without joining the Dawnguard, she had practically no random events at all. She eventually joined the Dawnguard and got an extremely high level of attacks (it finally had something to give her) in the smaller towns and Windhelm, no attacks in any other walled town despite trying. No idea how they work out which walled towns you get attacks in. Braggen had Windhelm, Riften and Markarth (the only 3 towns he visited), all Aussie got was Windhelm and she had only just brought Hjerim. Braggen never visited towns that much, Aussie was still doing quests and other things in towns while doing the Dawnguard questline. She was only attacked in Windhelm, could not get an attack in any other walled town, despite having a high rate of attacks. There has to be some set formula to which towns you get attacks in.

My third character (level 16, due to overwritting some saves) has completed nothing, not joined that many factions, does not own a horse although he tried out the mounted combat anyway, and is currently doing the Stormcloak and main questlines together, he will not be rushing off to join the Dawnguard for a while yet (he is having severe survival problems), maybe not at all without a bit of encouragement. Has not been attacked by any vampires anywhere, and has no random attacks of any kind. I am probably more likely to start a fourth character to try out a low level Dawnguard victim.

I have had both incesant attacks, and almost no attacks. The attacks do seem to pick up after you complete the Dimhollow Crypt quest (the first DG quest) and then go away after you finish the quest line.

If you are playing the DG side, you won't get the "Traveller" until after the first quest. I assume that if you are playing the vampire side, this is also when you the attacks by members of the DG: Traveller for DG players; DG for vampire players. The Traveller is not a problem for NPCs, though, since he only attacks the pc.

On my current run through I have had very few attacks so far, but I just now finished the Dimhollow quest. I went to Fort Dawnguard at level 12 or so to pick up a crossbow, but I did not go to Dimhollow Crypt until level 46. In all that time I have had very few attacks, almost all of them in Whiterun since that is where I spend most of my time. (I did have one in Markarth that happened after I exited Understone Keep.)

I have several strategies for dealing with the attacks:
When entering a city from outside the walls, fast travel to the vampire spawn spot if it is not the front gate. For Riften this means if you are standing at the stables, don't go in by the main gate, instead fast travel to Mistveil Keep. For Windhelm, you might want to fast travel to the Palace of Kings. For Whiterun they spawn right by the main gate, so go in by the gate.

Once I am in a city, I have my follower wait at the spawn spot as I run my various errands. An interesting option for Whiterun is to not interact with the Alikr Warriors that spawn after the start of Dragon Rising. Just let them stand there for as long as possible. This worked from me since they were able to put down a vampire attack before I could even get to the gate after coming out of the Bannered Mare.

Certain NPCs are essential until their quest is completed like Silda the Unseen (Blood on the Ice). Don't do their quest until you finish the DG quest line.

Other NPCs can be stashed away by starting their quest but not finishing it. Danica Pure-Spring will go into the temple after you start the Blessing of Nature. Fralia Grey-Mane will go into her house after starting Missing in Action.

Take thought about the best time to enter a city. For Riften, this would be at night when most NPCs are in their homes. For Whiterun the best time to enter is during the day, otherwise you could lose Belethor and Ulberth War-Bear.

Consider arming your NPCs by reverse pickpocketing them.

Get the spell Vampire Bane. This is a powerful area effect spell that only hurts undead. So if your NPCs have swarmed a vampire and you can't get a clear shot, you can at least toss vampire bane at them without worrying about hurting the other NPCs. (I was curious about how this spell would effect regular NPCs, so I tossed it at a guard, and his only reaction was to note how he had been an adventurer like me, but then he took an arrow to the knee.)