With the random attacks by dragons in Vanilla Skyrim, and now with the introduction of random vampire attacks in Dawnguard, it's just been a holocaust of NPCs, and this is with using the console to resurrect as many NPCs as I can. God help me when Serana decides to be "helpful" and use one of the dead NPCs as her henchmen. How is this supposed to be fun when I can't sell half my stuff nor finish half my quests?

How is this supposed to be enjoyable?

Eye of the beholder.

When i first started out dawnguard, i went immediately to whiterun, cuz you know. Whiterun is like the central hub for everything. But after that orc asked me to join up, a group of vampires ransacked the city. people were dying, guards were failing. I was failing... It was one of the greatest things i have EVER experienced in this game. I still get chills when they attack. It's just so fun and exciting.

was WELL worth the $20. For me at least. But im strange

Something hugely useful I've found is the Detect Dead spell, for two major reasons. First, it detects vampires, making it impossible for those vampire Travelers to hide from you. Second, it tells you if anybody died. So far I've managed to prevent losing any NPCs through Detect Dead and reloading. Tolfdir sells the spell at 65 Alteration.

Another tip: When fast traveling to Riften travel to Mistveil Keep. Vampires spawn in the market, where there happen to be a lot of NPCs, and this puts you almost right on top of them instead of at the front gate.

1. Your really overdoing the damage...
2. Stop fast-travelling...
3. It's realistic and part of the DLC...Don't like it, don't play the DLC. People were complaining that NPC's never felt threatened and now they do. Congrats.

Also, 4. I know you saw the other three threads about this....why did you make another one?

While I feel for the OP's pain...I gotta second this response! ^

There is a point around 55ish (for me) where the game begins to become easy and predictable. Before DG the only thing that gave me that spark of excitement and unpredictability was the random dragon attacks, the wild life, and the random encounters on the roads with "whomever" (thalmor, prisoner escorts, etc.). It got to the point for me that I started picking my own assassination targets just to see if I could do it cleanly...and then reloading to see if I could do it differently. There was a point where it almost mirrored Hitman, lol. But that was something I had to actively do, so eventually I got bored. I put it down for a few months to let it settle.

Dawnguard brought that excitement back to me in spades. Like the response above, I still remember the first time a pack of Vamps attacked Whiterun and I was genuinely saying aloud "Oh [censored], oh [censored], that's not working. OH S***! He just dropped that guy! OH NOES!! I'm runnin for the hills!! Help! Help! Vampire Attack!"...and I'm suppose to be the mighty "dragonborn". I had traveled to Savngard, killed "the world eater", and these things were kicking my ass all over town. I eventually had to reload because of the damage they did...but oh boy! was it ever EPIC CHAOS!! I'm now able to better handle them, but now and then they'll catch me off guard. Those moments, I know I'm in for a ride.

And I sided with the Vamps, so I'm getting them both. Vamp city attacks and Dawnguard attacks (on me, in city and out). Now that I have Lakeview Manor though they LOVE ambushing me while I'm tending crops or drafting plans. I say BRING IT GRANDMA!

I've had my fair share of attacks but never have I had an all out full on city takedown by some intelligent vampire strategists like some people are suggesting. On my main character I've had Dawnguard since it originally released on the Xbox and still haven't finished it with him and I only have one dead NPC on my hands from a vampire attack. I could of easily reloaded a save seconds before his death but I actually didn't care for him.

So I have probably about 50-60 hours of play time on this character so far during the chances of attacks and I have one dead NPC. How come you guys seem to be losing full towns to these fangers? Yeah, I reload a previous save after someone I like dies and it is annoying needing to do that but it's obviously worth it seeing how upset people are over dead NPCs. When I fast-travel into towns that seems to be when the fangers are waiting to attack and every time you fast-travel the game automatically autosaves. So once you're attacked, start unloading some crossbow bolts then check around and make sure all the dead bodies have fangs. If not, reload that auto save and keep chopping up those night walkers until you have every one safe and sound.


The random attacks are annoying and although they're not preventable, they are fixable. They definitely shouldn't be ruining your game to the extent to where you don't even see the point to Dawnguard anymore.

I'm sure it's a bug that you're just not experiencing. Just like how I have a bug that makes them attack mid day.

And just as how people have bugs that make it so vampire don't stop attacking at the end of DG (people argue that I'm the one with the bug cause it stopped, guess that's a fair statement...?)

I wouldn't say strategies, but it sounds like some people are either getting attacked more often than others, or larger scale attacks.

With the horrible NPC AI I can see it being an issue. I've had my fair share of shop keepers attack vampires 50 levels higher than them with their bare fists, and then have guards surround them so I can't hit the vampire...

Know what happened as I tried to save the shop keep?
I hit a guard and they all started trying to kill me instead. So I killed the vampire, and the entire town for some reason got in on trying to kill me, so I went to pay the fine.

Not to argue that it isn't, mind you...but I wonder if it really is a bug? Events, like these attacks, are suppose to be randomized right? So whats to say that there isn't a chance that they can attack you at mid day? About the frequency, any geek that's played DND knows that 18-20 can pop more than it rightly should during one game. An esoteric example I know. Sorry for that.

Again, not saying that they're not. I haven't looked at the scripting (not that I'd understand it anyway), but just tossing the thought out there. One of those things that makes me go "hmm..".

...and I agree that the NPCs are poorly scripted. Most should be running around screaming, or spawning in their houses when you load into town at night / early morning. Only the guards and maybe a select few ex-military types should be standing their ground, and there should be a few extra guards spawning nearby to even the odds or at least keep the vamps occupied while the civilians run home.

Well honestly I've had almost as many day time attacks as night time, so I think there is something off there.

I don't think day time would be scripted, that would just further destroy the lore really. The vamps appear to be fully blooded as well, stage 4, so you'd think they'd be burning up in just a second xD


On a side note, do they experience stat debuffs in day time raids? Do they die 4 times easier or something? I never paid attention.

I wanna see a giant vampire dragon assault on a Hearthfire home. Yknow, find out if the giants, vampires and dragons are in cahoots with each other.

Just complete Dawngaurd, man.

The attacks 99% of the time entirely stop, if they don't its bugged or you blotted out the sun.

1. No he isn't.
2. Stop playing how he wants to or else the game punishes him, right?
3. No it isn't realistic in the slightest by way of lore. Also nobody was complaining that their NPCs weren't being killed off left right and centre.

Vampire 1: Hey those Volkihar vampires are up to something and the Dawnguard are reforming
Vampire 2: What should we do?
Vampire 1: Let's suicide attack Riften market!

I got my second vampire attack in a city yesterday, nobody died, again.

I'll say it again.

After years and the immortal never dying children never grow up, I find that to be unrealistic. Won't they be left in the town by themselves? Are they in neverland? They gotta grow up and become a shop keeper eventually xD

Wait, they're NOT meant to attack midday?

Guess when the majority of my attacks occur? Go on, one guess.
Even more not amused with the whole situation ??

I'm pretty sure they aren't supposed to

They are vampires after all.

And you normally didn't get roaming vampires mid day in the vanilla.

There have been enough solutions provided throughout numerous threads on this issue...some people don't do anything and suffer, some people put up with it or enjoy it, some people actively go out and take the monsters on head on, like true nords.

Bugged or not, players can do things about it...stopping yourself from fast travelling to the front gates of towns isn't 'stopping playing the game the way you want', when (using whiterun for example) you can fast travel to the stables 100 metres away, or to dragonreach just above the market. Prudent gameplay or precautions taken don't prevent people from playing 'the way they want', otherwise we may be seeing people complaining that the game won't let them beat dragons when fighting in their underclothes with an unsmithed iron dagger.

It's a bit like Fallout 3...if you ran or sprinted across the wasteland, chances were you would get ambushed by something that would take you down in no time, so for most players it simply wasn't an option to use...in post-Dawnguard Skyrim, you don't fast travel to town gates or walk around with your thumb where the sun doesn't shine...you have to have situational awareness and you have to take responsibility for your actions or lack of them, or pay the price gamewise.

Fast travel doesnt work.

Buy from the blacksmith in whiterun and you're close enough to the gate to spawn all the vampires.

And it happens in the daytime too. Again, assuming the daytime attacks are a bug as well.

I also found waiting while you were in a city would cause the vampires to attack and they start the attack when the waiting is finished which is usually just about the time that all the store owners are on the way to their stores. The only store clerk I have in Whiterun left is the alchemist. I don't mind that the store owners die, it's annoying that they never get replaced. If nobody is making weapons someone would buy the forge and start.

that guy working with belethor at the shop could replace belethor, but nooooo lol

Good questions. I'll pay attention next time i'm jumped mid-day.

Restarted with new character after finishing dawnguard. Did run into my first named npc killed by dragons.
Lost one to vampire attacks during the dawnguard play.

Thank for the detect dead spell tips. I always thought it was an useless spell as aura whispers worked better. Detect life was useful for friend/ foe identification.
Anyway civilian npc should generally be more cowardly, they have no business fighting dragons and vampires unless they are fighters themselves.

I had my first attack in whiterun, apart from one of the shopkeepers (the one who sells armor and weapons) no one else died. The guards killed most of the vampire by themselves (it was 4 vampires vs 3 guards+me), so I do think that the midday attacks make them significantly weaker.
I did not yet experience some full scale attacks on a city as some people claim to experience though.

1. Vampires are scaled enemies. At high levels, neither NPCs nor guards are able to stop them effectively
2. So, to stop one annoying aspect of Dawnguard, you've got to endure another annoyance? (if you're playing Skyrim since November 2011, you've seen all already, not to mention that a lot of people cannot spend the whole day playing Skyrim just to go from Riften to Solitude).
3. How's realistic to suddenly have an army of undead wiping the cities clean? Attacks happen in the same cell, even if you don't see them, preventing any effective way of defense. It's not like Dragons who are announced by a loud shriek and the epic music.