I'm 100% confident if you ask players of Bethesda games, the overwhelming majority like the fact that you can do quests when you like at the pace you like without being forced to complete a particular questline. I'm happy to be proved wrong, but I seriously doubt players want Bethesda to push them to do certain questlines as a priority.

Sure some people like the attacks - that is not the point though is it? Whether you like them or not is totally irrelevant. The point is Dawnguard pushes the player to do it immediately if they want the attacks to stop. That contradicts a design philosophy that is absolutely integral to Bethesda games and is doubtless a significant factor in their success.

If you think otherwise, start suggesting Bethesda should design their games so specific quests are forced on the player - see how popular that notion is.

If you like the attacks, good for you. People that don't like them are FORCED to complete an ADD-ON DLC above everything else to try to make them stop IF they're not bugged for them and will continue regardless. That is terrible game design.

Is Skyrim a game that's all about glowy eyed vampires now? Because it appears they suddenly take priority over Alduin or the civil war. Maybe they should change its name to Underrim or Skyworld.

They're totally pointless as it is as there seems to be no reason why such pointless suicidal attacks are occurring, but it would have been far better if you had to trigger them by actively starting the questline in the same way you have to trigger dragon attacks and can opt to keep them out of the game if you so choose. Then people could choose to ignore Dawnguard if they wish, as opposed to having to uninstall it if they wish to ignore the Dawnguard questline and not still be harassed by the attacks. As has been said on one of these threads already, Bethesda have never before released a DLC that intrusively forces itself on the player in this way.
And it's not a good sign as together with Skyrim's excessive scripted events and stifling linearity of quests, they seem to be moving into more and more linearity. They seem to think if it's an open world that's all you need.

- Save before you fast travel.

-Make sure to arrive during daylight hours.

Havent had an NPC die in 3-4 games since Dawnguard.
Vampire attacks can not happen when the player isnt in the same cell because of how the game works.
No NPC can die unless they are actually loaded and active in the worldspace.

What happened to the OP is likely a glitch or minor bug as there are no vampire attacks before level 10.
Either he got killed by wildlife or died falling through the worldspace.

I'll sum it up like this, the Vamp attacks are worse then Dragons and Oblivion gates combined. At least Dragons and Oblivion gates don't kill shopkeepers and even if a Dragon killed a shopkeeper, that's a situation where you can easily reload and avoid the shop keeper getting killed. With Vamp attacks, it's a lot harder and to put it bluntly, it adds more repetitiveness to a game that definitely doesn't need it.

Also Dragons and Oblivion gates are optional, Vamp Attacks aren't.

No offense but baloney...I've had them happen as low as lvl 2....I've had attacks occur across multiple characters before lvl 10 and continue after completing the Dg main quest. I've uninstalled a and reinstalled and still had the same results. Having cleared that up, not every character gets bombarded with massive vampire attacks, only some. I don't know if something is bugged with the randomizer feature or what, but it sure can be aggravating

The attacking numbers seem randomized.

I think they set the possibilities to be too open though making massive amounts possible.

That is not supposed to happen.
That has to be a bug.
Especially if they still happen after the DG questline.

I'm happy to stand up as part of the minority . I wouldn't mind a sense of urgency in a few of the more major quests in Vanilla or Dawnguard. In fact its one of the things that I appreciate about Dawnguard...even if it was a glitch and unintended, it makes all of my games that much more exciting and interesting. Again, that's just my opinion.

I for one was a tad disappointed that there wasn't a sense of urgency to some of the main quests in Vanilla.
Sure, the NPCs try to instill a sense of urgency at first through their dialog.
"Go in haste!, lest we all be consumed by this great evil and the world be destroyed!"
... but then there's that caveat "..when you get around to it" that becomes apparent as you stop by the merchant to sell off all the crap you're still carrying from the last dungeon, swing by the house to make sure all your gear is in order, decide to do a little smithing while you're there, find out your out of leather so you go hunting some deer "really quick".

...three in game days later...

You suddenly remember that you have this really urgent matter to attend to! So you set off, only to later get side tracked by a random event or just happen to discover a cave you've never noticed before, or perhaps you complete a quest in another town and decide to take a detour there just so you can turn it in...only to be svcked into whatever drama is happening in that town. You could get attacked by a dragon, kill it then realize that if you loot its increadibly heavy bones and scales that you'll not be able to carry much else...so you loot it, run back home to store it...look around as everyone is calmly going about their daily routine.

Pft, and here I thought this was an "end of the world" emergency.

Just once I'd like it if by the next in game day the sky began to darken and people started to get worried. The next day shops begin to close up and people start heading for the hills. You stop by a store and the doors are boarded up with a sign saying, 'gone till after armageddon'. Then the next day reports start coming in of random towns and cities being utterly destroyed by Alduin, all because you had to do some smithing before heading out. You farted around and failed to go to him, so he comes to you. Now you have to face him or else.

That would be awesome.

Sure, maybe you'd like that.

That would make the game like a FPS where you have set amount of time to do something to complete a level. Together with the insane amount of scripted events, linearity of quests, dumping stuff in your quest log whether you like it or not (even by just walking past people) and pushing and prodding you towards quests I wouldn't be entirely surprised if they did head in that direction.

It would mean the final nail in the coffin of the 'choose your own story' idea (it's already no longer an RPG franchise) and make it just like any standard linear game except it's up to you to find your way from A to B before the timer runs out, as apposed to you can choose the order and pace of quests but when you do they're on rails. It would be the near final step towards a traditional FPS format, only needing levels instead of an open world to complete the transition. The quests would not only be linear, the game would dictate what you have to be doing right now. So what would set Bethesda games apart from other linear games?
Sorry you just downloaded Hearthfire, the game demands you ignore building your house until the game says it's ok or else everyone is doomed.

Be careful what you wish for.

Fast travel will increase the risk of vampire raids. When you fast travel, make sure you arrive at destination when it's day time or else chances are you will get a raid.

When entering a town or settlement at night (especially after fast travel), keep your weapons ready and observe the area/spawning points for a minute (yes, it's annoying)

In Whiterun, sometimes the vampire will come in and attack in the town when you fast travel there, but his two death hounds will actually be at the stable! If it's night time, kill the vampire, go out to the stable, kill the hounds who will probably be killing the stable horse (should respawn). If you don't do this, it's possible the horse seller and the other guy there might die.

I've had vampire raids as early as level 7, so level 10 is just for the quest to trigger. The raids can happen before.


Fast travel will greatly increase the risk of raids, although they do happen without it also. Make a save before fast travelling to a town.

My reaction to this is: If you want to play it that way, you are free to. Nothing is stopping you. Why would you want to force that on everyone else, though?

People on here mention some `mods` that can stop this happening - any idea what they are?

I would actually have no problem with this IF you had to do something to initiate it. My problem with dawnguard has never been the attacks, but the fact that they automatically start, unlike dragons which you can avoid just by not starting the MQ

Agree, that is the main problem with Dawnguard. It isn't optional.

http://skyrim.nexusmods.com/mods/21615

Oh please. Cry me a river, both of you. You're acting as if I'm suggesting that the whole of the game be scripted and put on a timer. Be turned into the next COD: Modern Warfare. Open up your brain pans, step down off of the drama wagon, and re-read what I wrote. I'm not suggesting that.

I love the game as it is. I really appreciate that I can go and do how I like, when and where I like it. Nothing wrong with that. I'm only offering a point of view, an opinion, another angle to look at it, and maybe even a suggestion to whom it may concern. For a couple of the major quests it would be nice if they put in a 'real' sense of emergency. Not all the quests. Not at every step of every quest. Just one or two of the more important "major" quests...and even then, only at the very end of these.

Risk = Reward...and on a rare occasion even a penalty if you fail.

Naturally it should be made very clear what your getting yourself into, so if you would rather not get wrapped up in that emergency right now and would rather build more on your house....then you can clearly not choose the wine in front of you.

However, if I choose to RISK getting wrapped up in that emergency then it should be made to really feel URGENT. Thus when I finish I'll get a REWARD for doing so rather than a fissile-out "Ooooh good...glad you made it. Moving on..."
Were this a real emergency, if I embarked on this and then decided "I'm going to finish a wing on my house, then stop Alduin." I should be penalized to some extent for that. Don't like the penalty? Then you can clearly not choose the wine in front of me and commit to fulfill a task only to flake out and put it on the back burner. We're talking about mother f'ing Alduin here. The World Eater. He ceases to be the World Eater if he's just going to sit on his haunches and wait for me to act. There then is no threat, nor was there ever. So then why in the name of Ysgramor would I ever him? Where's my motivation?...I mean beyond the player 'completionist' aspect.

I don't see why it would be unreasonable to suggest that there be a little extra 'something' pushing you to complete what you've started. You've come this far, why not complete what you're doing? Building your house can wait a little longer. Taking that flower to this person in whatever town can wait. That *dirt-bag hitting on the single mother in Whiterun will still be there to deal with, all after you've stopped the world from ending. *edit: lol, [censored] is censored edit/edit: hah! even the abbreviation is censored..

Place something in game that 'really' gives you that sense of urgency that your current task requires. There are a myriad of ways to go about this. I'm not going to debate or even discuss them.

...but I'll remind you of one important thing :
Like, don't like. Agree, disagree. Tell me why either way, if you feel so inclined, but remember its just an offering. Don't try to turn this into something its not.

Right! It would all have to revolve around making the clear option to start it. Knowing what you're getting into before hand.

Well, here I agree with you. Indeed, this is the way it is with the MQ. It is somewhat pressing to deal with the dragons after you choose to do Dragon Rising, since they are attacking towns and occassionally killing NPCs. So the MQ does have at least some of what you want.

Right now with DG the way to achieve this happy medium of pressing importance, but only when I choose to start, is to not install DG until you are ready to do the quest. That is my solution. Play Skyrim until I am ready to do DG, then install DG and do that quest straight through. It is a shame, though, that you have to uninstall the add-on until you actually want to play it.

Indeed, I find it sad that Dawnguard isn't optional. I wouldn't mind having the character creation lady in and avoid Dawnguard but sadly I can't do that, not without losing valuable merchants.

That's what they did and you threw a fit. Calm down.

Geez thats so comforting...

Wether youre a world away or a cell away youre still too late on the scene to help!

I never had much problems with vamp raids and always thought it was because i only enter towns during daytime business hours. I stand corrected as i was playing my level 11 orc and as i walked out of whiterun i found 2 death hounds attacking the guys at the stable...still wasn't much of a problem though

At lvl 11... no problem
At lvl 50+.... well let me give you an idea.

It will be 2-3 Vamps + 1-2 Hounds and they scale with your level.
The guys at the Whiterun stables have 75 - 85 HP (very high for a non guard but still way to low for this situation).
The NPC AI of the stable guys will tell them: "OH look .... Vampires... (equip iron dagger).... CHARGE.... -> DEAD
+ the Vamps can spawn in a "dead corner" of your current vision. And if you travel in the opposit direction, then you will miss the fight and 2-3 day later you will notic.... "Damn, when did these guys die?"

The problem is the low HP (non scaling of town/village NPCs) and the stupid AI.

personally i don't care when an NPC dies, there's far too many essentials anyway. if you're worried about losing a valued shopkeeper, don't worry as there a few to each town and some never leave their shops so you don't need to worry about vamps getting them anyway.


You all seem shocked at the vampire raids yet this is a vampire based DLC that isn't part of vanilla...what did you expect to happen? Did you really want vampires to only stay in the darkest dungeons and never visit towns to feed on innocent NPC's? If you really hate the vamps then join the dawnguard and put a stop to them or don't download dawnguard in the first place

Hard not to download as most people only found out the issue after buying

The attacks happen during the day for people, and don't end after completing the DLC for some people, I happen to have both issues

The problem isn't that they attack, it's that the shopkeepers run up and go killing right away, but die in one hit, and the guards swarm the dying NPC and make it difficult to defend. The AI is the problem.