The stupidity of dyes and dye mixing

Here are my three gripes about dyes and suggestion to fix them

1. Since they are so expensive one should get to preview how dye will affect armor before using it. Heck, have an NPC who will, for a price, SHOW characters how a dye will affect their armor. Double heck, maybe the dye trader could be more useful than just being a price gouging wench.

2. If dye color A plus dye color B create dye color C, and I mix a bottle of dye A and a bottle of dye B, would I not get TWO bottles of dye C? Why do two, three, or four bottles of dye shrink into ONE? It is a major rip off.

3. Why make the color mixing complicated? Is the run-of-the-mill paint color mixing chart most people know about so bad? Dye is more like paint than light! Why do we need user-made programs to predict how dyes will mix! Also, I had a vial of what looked like dark blue dye (it was a mix) and it titnted my ranger's britches very pale blue. Pretty, but STILL. I am at a loss as to why this was made so complicated.

--Nokomis

1. I totally agree, though dyes are not very expensive. I just wasted a black dye on my pyromancer chest armor. It turned out purple and that was really a large dissapointment.

2. Agree

3. I think mixing should be hard to predict. However I agree that the color on the bottle should be the color it actually shows up as.

Excellent suggestions. I don't really plan on dying my shit until I have an outfit I want to keep, though.

I disagree. Dying should be a LUXURY, or perhaps something to do in your spare time. Players should NOT be able to afford to experiment and throw away dyes on a whim, UNTIL they can afford it, and UNTIL they have finished the important things (like Ascension)

By the time you truly "deserve" to dye, or lose/waste dye, then it should not be a problem financially. Dye does not even help you statistically so I don't see the problem. This is IMO, and I agree that the Dye Trader is pretty useless, as well as dyes being expensive (especially when mixing) But I keep in mind that dying is useless as well as a luxury.

There should be a utility offered to experiment with colors ... I agree.

The price of dyes are too incredible to just throw away coin on a whim.

I honestly can't answer your first two with anything else than "Test it first on a PvP character." [if you can] I do agree that mixing two dyes should wield two dyes.

However, the answer to the third question is rather simple - mixing colors in Guild Wars is done by mixing light, not pigment. It seems like you already knew this, so ponder it further by realizing that lightning plays a much more important role in current games than it did in the past.

I don't know how far in the game you are, but money really isn't an issue later on. Popping a couple hundred for a vial of dye becomes something so trivial you end up just buying it at the trader.

Dye preview: Absolutely! The results are too unpredictable, and dye is too expensive for casual experimenting.

Deserve dye? It's dye people not the congressional medal of honor! How would you like it you went to a store to buy a shirt, and they only had blue on display then when you asked for a green they told you "No you can't have green, you don't deserve it!". Deserve dye? Wtf? It's just a color, I'd rather everyone have easy access to dyes then have a bunch of people running around in identical armor. Idividuality is a right, not a previlage!

Does a merchant mix dyes you have obtained? Sorry if this sounds so NOOB but I really haven't seen a trader that mixes them. I did however buy a dye remover thinking I would get my dye back.

I love mixing dyes and change my armor color at whim at times. and i'm not talking just like red or blue. I'm talking the putrid green you get from green and red mixed. or the pinkish purple from yellow and purple. Or the golden color of orange and yellow. oh or the crisp color of purple and red on a necro armor. now thats striking armor.

a lot of the mixes i have seen are usually bolder and more noticable then the run of the mil colors. then again i like teh characters that mix and match armor pieces to make a suit instead of just playing with all one style.

i tried to dye my magmas shield silver to go with the rest of my silver dyed gear. hoping that the orange mouth would chnage to silver. well guess what. i was glad to see the icon for it in my inventory did what i hoped but to find that it didnt dye the actual thing :S Same happened when i spend 3500 on black dye to turn my eternal shield black but its didnt do squat.

I was always curious about that... You can dye weapons and shields, but it does, guesss what, nothing... I dyed a bow I had silver (keep in mind I'm trying to get a guild hall) and It didnt do squatdidleydoo!

One thing I don't like is how necro scars become azure when dyed purple.
To make them purple, you have to dye them yellow.
That is VERY wierd, and should be fixed.

_Zexion

Yes, but your monitor is based off of blending light, not pigment. It would be far easier to use an existing light blending algorithm than try and develop a pigment one for the sake of dyes (which could end up being exceptionally complex once you get past tier 2 dyes). I'm not saying I agree with Anet's choice, I'm just explaining the most likely reason they did it that way.

I do wish there was a way to preview armors with dyes. I've tried mixing colors, but every single dye I try to apply to my 15k rogue's armor looks like absolute crap. Come on Anet, how about making a stand alone app that can use GWs art files and dye algorithm so we can see the results?

We all wish...

That's not at all why Anet did it, being a programmer I can tell you that it's not that hard to create a paint color mix preview app (I made one for school). All you do is assign each color a number say blue is 1 and yellow is 2 for example, then when a personm puts the two together you get green which is 3 (ok its a little more complex then that, but Im not about to paste in java code here). Your monitor may be based off blending light, but to a program your still just telling it to display a color. As long as you have the art for said color it's just as easy, just because a monitor works of light blending doesnt mean they have built in algorithms for it. When you get down to it in either case (light blending for colors, or pigment blending for colors) your still telling the computer "color surface a color b" and since your average monitor can display a couple million colors either way works well.

So really Arenanet did color mixing the way they did, because they WANTED to.

I really have divided thoughts on this one. On one hand, it would be great if you could preview your dyes (especially since the colors are different for different armors and professions), but I also agree with eA-Zaku that dye-ing should be a luxury, although I'm leaning more towards having some way of being able to preview appearances.

I think this should apply with the 15K ascension armor too. Before I realized that they were going to be changed, I spent 15 platinum on the ascension aeromancer robes only to see that it looked exactly the same as the normal aeromancer robes (this was before I knew that the graphics were being worked on) I had to sell it and waste 15K (along with the extra money put into the materials) and get a different armor. But even with this situation aside, it would be nice to be able to preview the ascension armor, so that we know what we're getting for our money.

I've seen this often, why do you people always think customization should be a luxury? I really don't get it, I'm all for symbols of accomplishment and prestige. But in the form of really good armor (ascension armor for example, after the new art) or a really rare unique weapon. Simple customization like color should be easily attainable by all. I'd rather see fifty people dyed funky colors then see fifty people who look nigh identical. Even though dyes are a luxury now, I still dont see a guy dyed black and think "he must be good" I see "oh cool he's all black". Just like I don't assume someone sees my character dyed all silver and thinks "she must be good" I assume they see me and think "ooh shiny!".

I agree, dyes were just to common in pre-searing to be thought of as anything but a simple means to further customize your character. Perhaps the developers thought..oh..post searing.. everything should be more scarce, but its not. Just the dyes.

It is ludicrous to have dyes running as high as 300 gold or more.. (not even going to get started about black.) I also agree, two dyes mixed together should give you two vials of that mixed color. Preferably with some unique graphic to indicate they are mixed.

We are very limited in customization. Heavens I landed in a spot right next to a ranger that was my exact same height, armor, face and hair style. Too boot her guild cape was nearly identical to mine. I had a hard time seeing who was me and who was this other ranger. LOL

My request to Arena.net.. stop being selfish with the dye and let us play with it. If armor is going to be 15K a piece at the end of this game, I want time to mix and practice colors earlier on lower level pieces before trying to apply it to my final armor. Its like a break in the constant kill and be killed environment. A chance to role play a bit. I also would not like to wait until I'm 80% complete with the game to have enough gold to buy my armor and the dye I need because for some silly reason the game knows I want blue, so all the drops I get are green.

I depends on your necros skin colour what colour of scars your going to get.