Just like the title says, I am wondering if the vampire attacks depend upon one's level (like do they start at level 10-11 like the DLC's recommended level suggests) or do they simply start with the installation of the DLC itself?

I ask this because I am starting a new game with a permanent level 1 character and want to progress through the story, saving the Dawnguard content for after I have completed the Faction quests (everything except civil war and MQ) but do not want to have to deal with the damnable war of attrition that leaves quite a few NPCs dead by the time I finally get around to it in my 30-40th hour or so.

Thanks for any info guys.

Well I got attacked before level ten. Then again I had started the questline.

If you are starting from level 1, read the bug/glitch info about the alchemy lab in Breezehome before going to far. lol

I hadn't noticed it until I had reached level 10, that's when things started to get hairy.

There should be a better trigger to start the quest line, the fact that you can go through Skyrim without ANY dragon attacks because you choose to ignore the quest-line is brilliant, the same should be said of Dawnguard.

If you don't want Vampire invasions, you shouldn't initiate the quest chain to bring them on, however at the moment as long as you're level 10+ they're coming. One of the bigger problems is that at around that level most players will be hovering around Whiterun Hold (So trying to avoid the attacks is complicated) and since the random generation is sort of a queue system, places are going to be attacked and attacked in succession.

I got attacked at level 8, my wood elf didn't stand a chance.

Okay, still on the fence about reinstalling it. I already beat it on the Dawnguard side with a level 70+ and moved it to a USB for now. Gonna decide once I finish off the Companions questline tonight. One reason I want it in is because of the face changer, I RP heavily and it would be nice to have my Nord's hair change as the story progresses as well as adding a few scars over time. When I complete a Faction, taking a small trip to the barber to signify a milestone being passed is a really nice thing to use, but not at the cost of the constant attacks which I have to be perfectly honest have become an extreme nuisance.

Haha yeah thats annoying.

I feel you dude. Thankfully I'm only playing Dawnguard on my chaotic evil characters who go on rampages anyway. I wouldn't dare mess with those random attacks on a good character. Don't want my npcs slowly dying off since you can never stop the attacks.

Yeah, thing is I already covered the Dawnguard side of things with my monster hunter and now I am looking forward to a long RP playthrough on my "just for fun and RP, stuck at level 1 with every skill at max, all spells, perks, etc." character and can't wait to see the Vampire storyline but first I will be putting at least 30-40 hours in to other things. Of that time at least two thirds of it will be spent as a Werewolf and face changer aside, those Perks in the wolf tree would be really nice since I have not tried them yet (the character I used for my DG playthrough is a fanatic afterall and would never consort with or become a monster willingly. He even killed Aela because she refused the cure)

Your best bet is to remove the DLC content, create a new character then do re download the Dawnguard expansion when you are absolutely sure you are ready to do the new expansion. There is no way to just ignore the expansion, the vampire attacks happen whether you want them to or not you're pretty much forced into doing it

Ah, well that is too bad. I figure I will install it, fast travel to a few cities quickly to see if at level 1 the attacks still happen and if I don't get any attacks I'll keep it in. If not I'll just move it back to the USB and wait it out. Thanks for the replies guys, really appreciate it

some people say vampire attacks happen earlier than level 10, I'm not sure though I haven't finished my first play through of the expansion yet but they do happen at 10 there is no way to put off the vampire quests and save them for when you are ready to do it

So I just got done testing it out myself.

I took a level 1 character and using him, I fast travelled around 20+ times between Whiterun, Riften and Riverwood since those were the most frequently attacked on my "legit" playthrough and all 3 were left as ghost towns.

I am overjoyed to report not a single vampire attack. None at all. Since this playthrough is a just for fun power-fantasy RP it means I don't need to worry as the character is stuck at level 1 with all skills maxed (so no chance of him levelling up and screwing the pooch so to speak)

Of course this is no consolation to the "legit" players (certainly won't refill my empty cities on my master difficulty level 70+ character) buy hey, it is a start I guess. Thanks for the replies guys and here is to my newly turne werewolf enjoying his new encounters, content and perk tree without having to worry about pesky vampires slaughtering his towns/cities

Edit: Of course I can't get the Dawnguard quest through rumors or guards but I found that just travelling there yourself means you can manually start it without issue. A small price to pay for my townsfolk staying alive methinks.