Can people please post what quest path you have taken - vamp or dawnguard.. How far into the quest they are and the frequency of the vampire attacks.
Logic would dictate that if you are a vampire and support them, the attacks would keep happening.. Likewise if you were in the dawnguard and wiped them out (I assume that is what you would eventually do) the attacks would stop.

Can anyone confirm this?

I have encountered 2 vampire attacks on cities thus far, one of them managed to kill a guard, the other completely failed (I assume the difficulty of the vampires gets worse at higher levels, im below level 20).

I've finished the MQ(dawnguard side) and never even seen one.

Are you on vampires or dawn guard side?

It gets worse as your level increases. I'm level 72, and the 3 vamps that spawn destroy towns, and theres no way around it. Prepare to get major quest failings and inhertiances if you continue to play with DG installed.

Kill them before they can do anything? If your level 72 you should be able to handle 3 vamps easily.


Dawnguard.

I think the point is that you have to help kill them too. I'm level 60 and I've always been able to fend of the vamps with Serana and teh town guards.

I wouldnt mind the attacks so much if the vamps were weaker and the townspeople could fight back, but their not, and they destroy the townspeople AND the guards. I've decided to uninstall DG for this very reason. If Bethesda doesnt make changes fast, not only will they lose customers they already have, but those who see the problems we have. Many have said already they wont be getting DG because of the problems we posted. This vamp attack deal was something we beta testers complained about, but nothing was changed. So its Bethesda's fault if they dont take our complaints seriously.

Are you on vampires or dawn guard side?
Stick to the topic question.. I'm trying to see if there is any sense to the hole ordeal..

I finished the Vampire MQ and have yet to see an attack, everything is going fine for me. o-o

About 6 attacks at lvl 16. They kill npcs very quick too. They tend to spawn with two death hounds. It's like dragon attacks on one of my saves it was rare, very common on another. It's extremely annoying plus it happens even if you don't fast travel in city. I fast traveled near whiterun, walked in and there was a vampire attack happening.

I finished the Main Questline with the Vampires.

0 Vampire attacks.
20+ Dawnguard attacks.

I'm level 41 on vampire side(playing on adept) and I did run into quite a few vampire attacks but they aren't that strong.(btw I have a tank character)

But dawnguard are effing annyoing they spawn all the time.

Im 65 and ive seen a few, there normally 1 master vampire, and a mistwalker with thralls. For me i can confirm that it only happens when i fast travel, the Guards seem to be able to cope for the moment, the vamps might kill a few of them but they get put down eventually. The problem comes in small villages like river wood where there aint that many Guards, they can quickly overwhelm the guards and move to the towns folk. I just wish the towns folk would flee instead of trying to solo a vampire master with a iron dagger.

However i havent had any attacks since becomeing a VL and progressing through there quest line, dawnguard attacks happen at the most inconvinient time and happen fairly often. Im yet to get attacked by the DG in a town though so im unsure how the hold guards and towns folk can relax. All i will say is if this happens on a fast travel and the vamps kill a important NPCs like quest givers just reload the auto save on the fast travel and try again.

If it helps im a Orc, dark paladin who plays on expert. Hope this helps some of you.

Yes, the level 81's usually report "ghost towns". The higher levels have higher level vampires that spawn, and these vampires greatly out level the guards and the NPCs.

I've been gathering as much information as I can about this so:

The attacks seem to be more frequent after fast traveling to a city/village. When you fast travel there seems to be a chance for the vampires to spawn anywhere inside of the city.

If you fast travel to a dungeon/cave close to the city, the chances seem less likely for an attack. If you do get an attack, and the vampires do not spawn inside of the city, they will usually spawn right at the main gate. For villages they seem to spawn at the road entrances to them.

From what I have gathered the attacks will continue regardless of which side you choose, or if the main quest for Dawnguard is completed.

I will edit this post if I remember anything else.

It happens sometimes. Not something that happens a whole lot

I'm lvl 9 havent started the dawnguard quest yet. (But I do have it installed.) I just returned to whiterun after getting the first piece of the axe for the companions to find a little ash pile in front of breezehome. Turns out it was http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Nazeem, there are no vamp or hound bodies in the city or outside....So I'm guessing Dawnguard also has a random npc spontaneous human combustion feature included. OH JOY!

I have little sympathy for these people, I doubt many of those level 81 people got to 81 legitimately. Probably using ridiculous exploits like the oghma bookcase thing.

First playthrough of Dawnguard:

Level 23, Dawnguard Faction, Nord/Werewolf

I've been seeing a lot of complaints/concerns regarding random vampire attacks on cities creating "ghost towns".
I could see that at higher levels that the frequency would be more attacks. Personally I haven't had much action, and that's probably due to my low level. I can only account for personal attacks on the country side and one incident at Riverside at 0300 when a "traveler" approached me and attacked and summoned a gargoyle. I would assume that if you did side with the vamps that it would make sense that the attacks would continue. The opposite would make sense for being with the Dawnguard, with less frequency of vamp attacks.

On a side note; I've been encountering more dragons than previously before the DLC release. Usually when I fast travel to certain locations for side/misc/main quests.

Besides that point; maybe Bethesda made this for a specific reason, to make things more challenging and interesting with certain interactions.

I've only seen one, and it wasn't even actual Vampires, just Thralls.

nothing interesting about towns being wiped out before you can even do anything about it.

Well thank god it was only Nazeem.

Hmm, am I right in saying the high level characters aren't struggling to kill the vampires, it's more finding and killing them before they kill off anyone else?

The game is ~ 8 month old. Plenty of time to max out a char...
Don't project your inability and/or laziness to others!

Try to think about this now, he's obviously not talking about the vampires being a threat to him. He's talking about how easily they can kill villagers. At that level these guys 1-hit kill almost any NPC that isn't a guard or a follower. And considering the fact that they'll attack the first person they notice (which isn't always you) or whoever last attacked them (like an idiot villager with a knife), that can lead to some unwanted fatalities.

Dawguard side here, MQ complete, 81, and I've had quite a few attacks, I'd say at least 10. So far Riverwood and Whiterun are completely devoid of non essential NPC's. Markarth is also down 3.