I've visited the word wall in the middle of the lake several times now. Serana always comments on the ice. I did some sluething on that today to find out that I was supposed to have been attacked by dragons for visiting that word wall. Naaslaarum and Voslaarum, specifically. I've been there about three times now, no dragons. Do I have to JUMP on the ice or what?

I think you have to travel really far in the ice.

Really? You didn't even walk out on the ice to see what might happen?

I walked from one side of the lake to the wall, then all down the length of the lake. Hence my exasperated comment about jumping on the ice...

Perhaps there's a 'special' place one has to walk? Or else the dragons might be a bit buggy... but with three bites at the apple, one would've thought one of those times would've gotten a dragon-fight.

Try starting roughly under the castle to the east of it, at foot of the waterfall and then walk over the ice towards the Word Wall.
That was the route I took when they attacked me.
Might be that you are meant to come from there due to some other spoilers that allow you to fall down that waterfall.
I landed there by using the Ethereal Shout from the castle above after the ending of a quest, probably just sheer lucky coincidence that I triggered the dragons.

weird. I didn't even make it to the word wall before they attacked me. epic battle it was. I just ran straight across the lake.

Yeah, me too. Was on the ice, saw the word wall and bam, 2 huge Dragons attacked me. Very epic battle.

Did you start MQ?

A friend also missed the fight. He said that he made a new savegame for dawnguard without MQ sarted.

AHA! It is NOT a 'special place' but a 'special situation'. And that, Bethesda, is a real big issue that you missed in your scripting. Not everyone will want to start the main quest prior to starting DG. Hell, the MQ is almost the last quest that I start in Skyrim as it is, let alone with Dawnguard. OK, now how far into the MQ does one have to be? All three of my attempts have been after 'Before the Storm' (MQ102) has started. I immediately diverted to Riften and the Dayspring Canyon, as soon as I finished talking with Alvor / Gerdur. Now I wonder how much farther one has to go in the main quest before one gets the dragons... I'll guess 'Dragon Rising' finished.

Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions. How exactly did your friend start his 'dragon-less' game? Alternative start?

No mods for alternative start... i think. (talked with him on skype this weekend. We both done our Dawnguard playthrough and give hints to each other).
But he said that he "power level" a new nord warrior to the point befor becomming thane of whiterun.

Edit: UESPwiki shows the begin of dargon appearing with the quest "Dragon Rising".

I got them, and I haven't even started the MQ. Might be bacause I use an Alternative Start mod.
Also, I use something called Immediate Dragons, letting me meet dragons from right off the bat. As in, meeting a dragon the first time I visit Riverwood.
Because of this, I have lots of shouts I can use without even fighting that one dragon at the Western Watchtower.

Yeah, dragons won't spawn until Dragon Rising is complete, because otherwise you'd absorb their souls, revealing you're dragonborn, which would raise questions about the MQ later on if/when you DO complete Dragon Rising. (And if you didn't absorb their souls... that would also make no sense if you later did the MQ, as you should have ALWAYS been Dragonborn)

The soul cairn guy notably dies differently (not really a spoiler as his death was shown in the pre-release). But yeah, you won't get dragons until you're a known Dragonborn.

?

You do not get dragons in the main game you do not get dragons in the DLC, seems fair enough to me. You have to go to a lot of trouble to avoid starting the MQ in Skyrim, and you do not have to go very far in the main quest to get scripted dragons.

If croc is a PC player I would be looking for a mod that is preventing the dragons appearing. Serana mentions thin ice, you take one step on the ice you should get dragons. I had a character who only went as far as talking to the greybeards, she got the dragons. She could get scripted dragons after killing the Whiterun dragon.

I'd swear that I got dragons prior to dragon rising in previous games / characters. As to avoiding going that far in the MQ, just don't follow Rolof or Hadvar as far as Riverwood - MQ delayed, no mods involved. Too simple.

I am also in the forgotten vale with no mods on at all. There are no dragons at all no matter how much I dance on the ice, but I still have the dragonstone in my inventory as I have not progressed on the main story line yet. I think this makes sense though. The dragons don't come until you progress enough in the MQ to get scripted dragons I guess.

Yes, you need to have completed Dragon Rising for those dragons to appear, which is a bad move from Bethesda's part.

On the contrary, I think it's a good move. Depending on how one role-plays, not every character is the Dovahkiin.

your level is not high enough yet try going back at level 70

Nope, level 30ish here and I got the two dragons.

It's whether or not you've completed Dragon Rising. The only dragons set (without mods) to spawn without doing so are:

, neither of which surrender their soul, and so do not reveal your nature as dragonborn.

I've gone well past Dragon Rising and the two dragons aren't appearing there for me.

According to UESPWiki, you have may have to be in there doing the related quest as well, the dragons may not appear if you have just wandered into the Vale of your own accord.

Are you playing on the PC, and do you have any mods that could be interfering. It might make no difference, but is Serana with you, or have you managed to lose her.

I did this too and had ther same problem but it was just that I didnt do the first dragon quest at the western watchtower for whiterun that activates dragons called Dragon Rising. If you have and youve gone to the right spots in the Vale I'm stumped.

I didnt either tbh.. i was wondering where the dragon were from the trailer haha.. guess i have to go re-visit the place

I've made peace with the fact that you do at least have to have started 'Dragon Rising', and have taken a dragon soul. I went on to do the first part of 'The way of the Voice', but don't know if that is necessary. (Anecdotally, it isn't...)

When it started to make sense was when Durnehviir greeted me. In that set of conversations, he called me Dovahkiin. Prior, he'd just replied that it 'felt right' or somesuch.

If anyone can fill in the bit about how far one has to be into the main quest, it might help others trying to plan a strategy. It is somewhere between capturing a soul, and being greeted by Angier as Dragonborn.

It also really doesn't make much difference if you don't start the main quest, you just don't get the two new dragons (or their souls) in Forgotten Vale; at least that's my experience.