I remember when I had to save Alvor (Riverwood's Blacksmith) from Vampires, it was so funny. Not sure why though but he's a big guy, you'd think he could handle himself.

@A Plissken's Snake

You're profile pic is boss, Kurt Russell is a great actor.

Vampire attacks work as intended. There is no need for more dumbing down. "But they happen when I'm not around"... No they don't, pay more attention. Sometimes NPCs die, #dealwithit

Yeah brah, no need for merchants or quest givers in a rpg. Who cares if they get killed off by vampires. Who needs NPC's populating a city too. 'sarcastic reply'

Last playthrough, they killed Adrianne in Whiterun shortly after starting the quest. Surprisingly, I've gotten now most of the way through the main Dawnguard quest and there have been no attacks on any towns or villages, save for one instance in Whiterun when a lone vampire tried something, but was quickly dealt with. And I even joined the Dawnguard this time, yet nothing. I mean, I'll get ambushed when out traveling, but that's about it.

Also, I agree with just going with what the game gives you, unless it's something that just really screws you, but if an NPC dies, so be it. When Adrianne died last time, I hated it, but just accepted it.

That comment about just letting it be. Why should an entire city be wiped out and become a ghost town?

Haven't lost one NPC in a vampire attack. I did have Adrianne in Whiterun killed off right after I installed dawnguard. Tried three or four times to get to the vampires before she was killed but was too far away. I was in the companions hall- house. Decided to use the wait option to sim to daylight. This eliminated the vampire spawning in Whiterun.

Its still an annoying feature especially how derpy the npc ai reacts to dangerous vampires. You would think they would run away, run to the hills so to speak instead of punching or using an iron dagger on a powerful vampire.

That's why "When Vampires Attack" is such an important mod (if you're on PC). Even with it though, DG is amazingly buggy and annoying IMHO. I have uninstalled it and started a new game.

I think the bad design decision has nothing to do with dawnguard, its that npc's are idiots. I wish I had a pc.

Well, if a whole town is killed off, so much that it feels as dead as a ghost town, THEN sure, I'd probably re-load my save and hopefully prevent such a devastating attack, but if one or two NCPs die, I don't think it's a real issue. But of course, that's just me and my preference.

All those people who are supposedly being killed off as some are claiming is a huge exaggeration.