I'm still trying to wrap my head on how people have a problem with this. I understand that the npc's get in the way or whatever, or the vamps spawn too far away, but even then I manage to get there in time before someone dies, and I play on master, so what is really up? Critical strikes from vamps or something? Even in solitude where vamps spawn really really far away, its no problem. The guards in solitude dont mess around. I guess there's nothing wrong with some kind of fix from Bethesda, long as they dont get rid of them, because I enjoy them.

As I have said before the vampires are not an issue for me power wise I can take them out easily enough. I have witnessed one ice storm kill three NPCs in town with one blast and they jumpin the way of my mage when I cast spells I have killed an NPC well several of them with one or two incinerate spells as I have said before. The townspeople are idiots and I have witnessed one vamp lord kill them all just because I wanted to see how well the populace would do.

I hear you, but like I said, I'm on master, and they dont get instant killed like that. I'm wondering if them getting killed like that is a glitch, or something. I know they're not a problem to kill, but the npc's shouldn't be dying that fast.

Maybe it is a glitch or something but its been this way since Dawnguard what level are you I am 58 and on adept, that might have something to do with it. I should mention also its the spells that one hit kill so far no vampire has one hit killed anyone with a hit but their spells will most definitely and they seem to use spells al the time.

Can't tell you how many times I had to reload just because I lost vendors. It was one thing with the dragons attacking, annoying yes, but not to the point it is now.
Also go to love when you swing at the vampire and drop the guard and get a huge bounty so when the fighting is all done, you get attacked too!
Little things make or break the role play exp, but this is one of those times where it needs a fix

I do not really see what the problem is though, you have those some difficulties when fighting with followers or fighting with NPC's against other things like dragons. Surely after all this time you have applied some thinking to overcoming the problems with your fighting style. Or is it your usual practice to kill NPC's and followers for getting in your way? Seems to me the problem would have been there all the time. Destruction magic is not a good thing to be using close to friends, does not matter what you are fighting.

I don't think the point of the random Vampire attacks are to kill NPCs.

Edit: I guess from a RP standpoint you could assume they're (The Vampires) just attacking and killing any potential Dawnguard recruit.

I am trying to figure out a way for vampire attacks to happen more often for some reason I have not had 1 vampire attack on a city for some reason. During the release of dawnguard it happend but now I don't get any even with new characters did bethesda patch it? To me it does not really feel like a vampire menace anymore.

Level 81 (no oghma infinium glitch)

Thats actually exactly the point, otherwise, they'd be set to attack only you like the thugs.

I'm sure you already know this, but they attack at night, so try fast traveling to places when it is dark, or just waiting.

I saw it mentioned in another thread along the lines of this one so I'll mention it here.
Why not reverse pick pocket better weapons on the guards as they sleep ? Nothing to spectacular or anything, something along the lines of fully tempered Orcish. At least this way the guards have better equipment to help with the defense, allowing you a little leeway when trying to reach the action and save the day. Only problem I see is that the better gear that you give them may respawn after a certain length of time or when they sleep again but I haven't seen any detail on weather or not their inventory infact does respawn.

I experimented with this a little. I gave the two guards and the avenicci girl in whiterun by the gate dragonbone swords fully upgraded with blacksmith enchants, so they were all close to 200 attack, and enchanted them with fire and absorb health. Worked beautifully, even without my help. Only thing is they arent efficient in destruction magic, so the charge wears out quickly, but another enchantment besides absorb health would work fine. Will the guards equip armor?

I don't know, I've never tried giving them better armor, as for the enchant loosing charge... I wouldn't have put a charge on them ( personally ), I would have just tempered the weapons enough to kill a master vampire with one or two hits. But they do keep the weapons that you give them right ? Their inventory doesn't respawn or anything does it ?

I am not saying its impossible and I can do in a dragon without them killing evertybody they have no powerful spells. Like I have said now several times in this thread the vamps magic is the killer of the populace and if I focus on them I can kill them if there is two spell casters then the townspeople have a problem that is if one of them uses ice storm, like I have said that has killed multiple people in my town with one cast as mentioned earlier this might be a bug I am experenceing but the enemies magic in this game is very powerful. I can use summons to distract them but sometimes they still do in a shop keep. Also destruction magic is my means of attack my current build I do not use bound werapons or real weapons pure mage here destruction supplements my illusion and my summons distract and I use either thunderbolt or incinerate to dispatch the vamps I try up close but the city gets chaotic when an attack is going on.
Hmmm then yeah it just might be a bug I never thought of that until you mentioned it.

One of the guards lost his after a while. I think he got replaced or something, but the blacksmith and the other guard still have theirs.

Nice so there's at least something a player can do to soften the damage that the vampire attacks do, not to mention the " quest " added by yourself to equip all guards in every city/town with better gear.

The armor replacement is an interesting concept certainly and I will look into with a future rogue or thief build. Then I will see how that works out for them.

I'm pretty sure you don't need a high pick pocket skill in order to place weapons on a person ( it helps yes ) as long as your sneak is good enough. Try it out and see if it helps out any

I think I might with a near future build playing a mage here big roleplayer I cannot break character. Is there a skill requirement at all to place items in enemies pockets have not tried and and I do not see anything on it.

No you can do it from the start, but you do have a percentage of success ( it's displayed under the items while pick pocketing ). If you have a 70-80% chance of success then you should be able to place the item on your target, as for the breaking character I fully understand where your coming from but you gotta ask yourself is keeping character more important then trying to fix you vampire problem ? Can you take a couple days break from RPing and run the map to place better weapons on most of the guards and then return to your RP once you have armed them ? Don't get me wrong, I fully understand how important RP is but you do gotta ask yourself which is more important RPing or trying to lesson the effect of the vampire attacks.

True I guess I might experiment around with it and see what comes of it for fun. It would not hurt anything I am just OCD about it I guess. But sometimes it just might be for the best to ease some needless frustration.

Level 27 now with a new character. I have never been to Fort Dawnguard or approached by Durak the recruiter. I have the quest because all the stupid guards won't shut up about it.

First attack occurred in Whiterun just as I hit level 10. I didn't even know it happened at the time because it spawned near the main gate when I came out of Dragon's Reach after getting the Bleak Fall Barrow quest. Only reason I knew it happened is because of an ash pile (vampire thrall) and dead master vampire at the front gate.

Second attack happened in Riften. Again, I didn't know about it until I saw a corpse laying by the front gate. Turned out to be a master vampire. Must have spawned when I came into the city through the docks after getting the Avanchenzel quest.

Third attack happened in Whiterun. One master vampire and two thralls. Fortunately, no casualties. I believe this one spawned when I came out of the Bannered Mare, or maybe Jorvaskr, can't remember. Not Breezehome since I don't own that yet.

Fourth attack just occurred in Windhelm. This time it was two master vampires and two thralls. (Why not just have a vampire army invade and be done with it?) This one spawned by the front gate when I fast traveled to Palace of the Kings. Two casualties: Thjorborn Shatter-Sheild and Jora. I had already done Thjorbjorn's mini-quest, so I got the amulet of Arkay back, plus the money I gave him for a round of training.

Observations:

When I come into the front gate a Windhelm, the vampires spawn behind the Candlehearth Hall, not at the gate. When I come in at Palace of the Kings they spawn at the front gate. Same in Riften. When I come in by the main gate, they spawn at the market. When I come in near the market, they spawn by the gate. When I come out of a building on the other side of the city, I may have no idea that a vampire attack has spawned somewhere in the city. Bethesda wants to make sure that you are unable to intervene before NPCs are dead.

Vampires level with the player while NPCs do not. The higher the level you go, the more deadly the vampires will be to NPCs. Adrianne, for instance, has just 95 health and no armor. A vampire nightstalker, by contrast (level 28 and up), has 413 health and vampire armor.

These attacks are occurring even though I have had nothing to do with the Dawnguard. Unlike with the MQ where you make a conscious decision on whether to allow dragon attacks to start or not by deciding to do the Dragon Rising quest, you have no choice about whether vampire attacks will start. With DG installed, it is all vampires all the time until you finish the DG quest. The rest of Skyrim just needs to take a hike. Or you can simply not install DG until you have played Skyrim. Either way, these are two separate games and the DLC should not be sold as an add-on since it is clearly a take-away.

I know all about having to break character to take care of something, I've had several bugs/glitches where I had not choice, so I know where your coming from. But it is something that has to be done every once and a while, it's better to break immersion for a little while in order to try and fix something so that you can continue to RP for a long while.


That's too bad man but I bet it has something to do with the randomization. Your one of the bunch that has an over active random encounter generator and I would bet that you experience a lot of dragon encounters as well ( on that save file ). I play on master difficulty at level 81 and have had just as many attacks as you and still walked away with only the loss of 2 lives, it's all in vigilance my friend. I check a town / city 3 times every time I walk in and 3 more times as I'm leaving, I'll even go as far as posting myself at the main gate for an hour ( in game ) just to make sure everything is clear. I would recommend developing a case of OCD like myself and triple check every time you enter or leave a town / city, it seems to work for me so it should work for you.

Update: Now at level 31, still haven't been anywhere near Fort Dawnguard.

Another attack at Windhelm. This time I came in at the front gate, ran towards the back of Candle Hearth Hall only to hear shouting back at the gate. One master vampire, two thralls. No casualties. This may only be because targeted NPCs were essential. Brunwulf Free-Winter is definitely essential and if not for that, he would have been dead. He was down on one knee very early in the melee and didn't get back up until the vampires were all dead. Arivanya may also be essential at this point because I have not started Blood on the Ice. I suppose I could check that out by trying to kill her and see what happens. She looked like she was in trouble too. She ran off screaming "no more, I yield" at one point. It was extremely hard to really get into the melee there were so many NPCs around.

It would be extremely helpful if everyone but the Guards ran away from the attack rather than towards it. Maybe they all figure this is Vampire Apocalypse and have decided it would be better to get to ground zero and die quickly rather than try to survive the fallout.