Guild Wars 2

Here’s my question: With an excess of 400 dyes to be found in the game, why did Arenanet decide to make most dyes appear as different shades, not only on different types and styles of armor, but on different slots of the same armor set?

You see, sometimes I just want my armor to be red. Or black. Or neon pink (don’t judge me!). But when I dye my character’s skirt with Autumn and it shows up as a gradient that fades into some muddy yellow, or when I want to use some shade of black that turns my heavy armor into a dark olive green, I have to wonder what the point is of having specific shades of dyes integrated into the game to begin with.

Afterall, if I wanted my armor to look piss-yellow, wouldn’t I just buy a dye in that shade?

I’d really like to know what the developers’ thoughts behind this idea were. It seems to me like having a player get the same shade as the preview shown for the dye would be preferable to forcing him to waste money buying up several different shades of the same color, and hoping he gets the shade he wants on his specific set of gear.

Also, if you want to add gradient color scales to pieces of armor, that would be fantastic, but please let us choose both colors in the scale, so we have some sort of control over how our character looks.

Greyfeld.7104:

Maybe this is just somebody who has no experience in programming talking, but it seems to me that making the color different across different armor types would take just as much coding as making it the same across different armors. Afterall, they have to code in all the colors a line at a time, don’t they?

And even if this isn’t the case (as I said, no programming experience, so I’m just assuming), it’s something that I feel Anet should consider looking at in the future, when they start looking into quality-of-life adjustments.

Considering the main theme of this game is “aesthetics over power,” it seems to me that it be important to make it as easy as possible for players to get the look they want.

The devs would not be coding the appearence of a color on a piece of armor. Instead, each dye has a set color code. ( 255,255,255 is black I think, or is it white… I forget it has been a while.)

The color is then passed to the rendering engine wich applies the color to the texture which can then modifiy the actual appearence of the color depending on the material the texture is emulating. (Leather, Metal, Cloth)

So, the only way to get what you seem to be asking for is to stop using material based textures which I personaly don’t want to see them do.

keep in mind that you can preview the dye before you click them into permanence. I only wish you could do that from the TP as well.

I don’t think its quite as simple as you make it out to be. For example, you have some dyes that are “metallic” others that are “natural leather” and yet more that are in the “vibrant” category.

I think the game’s rendering engine renders things differently based on the kind of material it is supposed to be rendering, and that in turn changes the way it renders a particular colour as well.

In other words, the same yellow is going to be brighter on a shiny surface compared to a dull surface.

It doesn’t matter if it’s Puke green and I’ll never use it… I’ll still want to collect it.

Hello, I’m Drake Brimstone and I’m a Dye-Aholic Its been 5 days since I last bought an Unidintified dye… oh wait, I looted one, better call my sponsor.

Xarog.3172:

I don’t think its quite as simple as you make it out to be. For example, you have some dyes that are “metallic” others that are “natural leather” and yet more that are in the “vibrant” category.

I think the game’s rendering engine renders things differently based on the kind of material it is supposed to be rendering, and that in turn changes the way it renders a particular colour as well.

In other words, the same yellow is going to be brighter on a shiny surface compared to a dull surface.

While you have a point, this doesn’t explain why one color can look like various shades on different pieces of armor from the same set.

Also, some colors just blatantly don’t look like the colors that they’re previewed to be, which can be a huge pain in the butt when you’re shopping for them on the TP. The Midnight Red that I recently got for my necromancer looked reddish black on her last set of gear as it’s supposed to, but on her new set it’s a lot brighter than the preview would indicate.

It also doesn’t explain why the developers thought it was a good idea to grant a “gradient” effect to some armor, making the colors you come up with a total crapshoot.

Greyfeld.7104:

Xarog.3172:

I don’t think its quite as simple as you make it out to be. For example, you have some dyes that are “metallic” others that are “natural leather” and yet more that are in the “vibrant” category.

I think the game’s rendering engine renders things differently based on the kind of material it is supposed to be rendering, and that in turn changes the way it renders a particular colour as well.

In other words, the same yellow is going to be brighter on a shiny surface compared to a dull surface.

While you have a point, this doesn’t explain why one color can look like various shades on different pieces of armor from the same set.

Also, some colors just blatantly don’t look like the colors that they’re previewed to be, which can be a huge pain in the butt when you’re shopping for them on the TP. The Midnight Red that I recently got for my necromancer looked reddish black on her last set of gear as it’s supposed to, but on her new set it’s a lot brighter than the preview would indicate.

It also doesn’t explain why the developers thought it was a good idea to grant a “gradient” effect to some armor, making the colors you come up with a total crapshoot.

There are more textures then just the one that applies the color. those textures effect different colors in different ways.

It is a pain when only piece of your Armour clearly comes out a different color then everything else you are wearing using the same color dye though.

I guess it is a mistake in matching the dye to the color the Armour gets

i hear ya OP, especially when it comes to my exalted set. it took me a lot of tries to find somethign that would appear dark on certain dye slots(collar in particular). i mean even midnight dyes show up as very pale shades.

Lt Latency.7415:

Greyfeld.7104:

Xarog.3172:

I don’t think its quite as simple as you make it out to be. For example, you have some dyes that are “metallic” others that are “natural leather” and yet more that are in the “vibrant” category.

I think the game’s rendering engine renders things differently based on the kind of material it is supposed to be rendering, and that in turn changes the way it renders a particular colour as well.

In other words, the same yellow is going to be brighter on a shiny surface compared to a dull surface.

While you have a point, this doesn’t explain why one color can look like various shades on different pieces of armor from the same set.

Also, some colors just blatantly don’t look like the colors that they’re previewed to be, which can be a huge pain in the butt when you’re shopping for them on the TP. The Midnight Red that I recently got for my necromancer looked reddish black on her last set of gear as it’s supposed to, but on her new set it’s a lot brighter than the preview would indicate.

It also doesn’t explain why the developers thought it was a good idea to grant a “gradient” effect to some armor, making the colors you come up with a total crapshoot.

There are more textures then just the one that applies the color. those textures effect different colors in different ways.

It is a pain when only piece of your Armour clearly comes out a different color then everything else you are wearing using the same color dye though.

I guess it is a mistake in matching the dye to the color the Armour gets

Maybe this is just somebody who has no experience in programming talking, but it seems to me that making the color different across different armor types would take just as much coding as making it the same across different armors. Afterall, they have to code in all the colors a line at a time, don’t they?

And even if this isn’t the case (as I said, no programming experience, so I’m just assuming), it’s something that I feel Anet should consider looking at in the future, when they start looking into quality-of-life adjustments.

Considering the main theme of this game is “aesthetics over power,” it seems to me that it be important to make it as easy as possible for players to get the look they want.

dirtyklingon.2918:

i hear ya OP, especially when it comes to my exalted set. it took me a lot of tries to find somethign that would appear dark on certain dye slots(collar in particular). i mean even midnight dyes show up as very pale shades.

Solution, dont use the Midnight dyes, use an actual Black or Abyss dye if you want black. Midnight Fire for example is a very very dark Red dye, not black, so on some pieces of armor the Red will be more apparent then others.

Generally it has to do the texture of the armor piece. Some are more reflective that others and it has the tendency to change the color completely.

Drake Brimstone.3706:

dirtyklingon.2918:

i hear ya OP, especially when it comes to my exalted set. it took me a lot of tries to find somethign that would appear dark on certain dye slots(collar in particular). i mean even midnight dyes show up as very pale shades.

Solution, dont use the Midnight dyes, use an actual Black or Abyss dye if you want black. Midnight Fire for example is a very very dark Red dye, not black, so on some pieces of armor the Red will be more apparent then others.

How is that a solution? If he bought midnight fire it stands to reason that he wanted an “almost-but-not-quite-black” hue of red. If the same dye comes out on the next piece of armour looking like a tomato red, then obviously something is off, and I think any reasonable person would be a bit irked over this.

Xarog.3172:

Drake Brimstone.3706:

dirtyklingon.2918:

i hear ya OP, especially when it comes to my exalted set. it took me a lot of tries to find somethign that would appear dark on certain dye slots(collar in particular). i mean even midnight dyes show up as very pale shades.

Solution, dont use the Midnight dyes, use an actual Black or Abyss dye if you want black. Midnight Fire for example is a very very dark Red dye, not black, so on some pieces of armor the Red will be more apparent then others.

How is that a solution? If he bought midnight fire it stands to reason that he wanted an “almost-but-not-quite-black” hue of red. If the same dye comes out on the next piece of armour looking like a tomato red, then obviously something is off, and I think any reasonable person would be a bit irked over this.

This is what happened with my Midnight Red. Not quite “tomato red,” but on the butt-cape for my necro’s newest set of gear, it’s more rose-red than midnight-red, which is moderately annoying.

Drake Brimstone.3706:

Greyfeld.7104:

Maybe this is just somebody who has no experience in programming talking, but it seems to me that making the color different across different armor types would take just as much coding as making it the same across different armors. Afterall, they have to code in all the colors a line at a time, don’t they?

And even if this isn’t the case (as I said, no programming experience, so I’m just assuming), it’s something that I feel Anet should consider looking at in the future, when they start looking into quality-of-life adjustments.

Considering the main theme of this game is “aesthetics over power,” it seems to me that it be important to make it as easy as possible for players to get the look they want.

The devs would not be coding the appearence of a color on a piece of armor. Instead, each dye has a set color code. ( 255,255,255 is black I think, or is it white… I forget it has been a while.)

The color is then passed to the rendering engine wich applies the color to the texture which can then modifiy the actual appearence of the color depending on the material the texture is emulating. (Leather, Metal, Cloth)

So, the only way to get what you seem to be asking for is to stop using material based textures which I personaly don’t want to see them do.

That actually makes a lot of sense, though it has the unfortunate side-effect that I mentioned in my original post.

At the very least, I wish they would adjust how the gradients work. I don’t mind having them on armor, but I’d like to be able to choose both colors for the gradient, instead of having the second color pre-chosen based on the dye I’m using.

Drake Brimstone.3706:

dirtyklingon.2918:

i hear ya OP, especially when it comes to my exalted set. it took me a lot of tries to find somethign that would appear dark on certain dye slots(collar in particular). i mean even midnight dyes show up as very pale shades.

Solution, dont use the Midnight dyes, use an actual Black or Abyss dye if you want black. Midnight Fire for example is a very very dark Red dye, not black, so on some pieces of armor the Red will be more apparent then others.

well midnight fire and ice are both darker than “black” dye. black dye itself doesn’t appear anywhere near black on this dye slot. i wouldn’t gamble 7g on abyss becasue it’s likely it wouldn’t be black either.

nevermind it’s not a matter of it being black. but rather being dark. the midnight dyes all look great exactly as they appear on all other slots of the set, and on most other armours, which is exactly as they are previewed.

and actually the dye i want to use there is mist or envy, which on those slots comes out as an extremely whiteish green. i tried using midnight green becasue it should be the darkest green in teh game right? but on the collar/etc dye slots, no it’s a bright green, and nothing near the darkness of even envy and mist, which aren’y terribly dark to begin with.

but no, again, it’s not about blackness, but rather getting the colour that it should be. there are plenty of pale/light/whiteish dyes in the game to choose from. if i wanted one of those i would use them.

my biggest concern is that to me, both abyss and black wind up being more purple than I would like. There is literally no dark black color for some of my gear. It’s all very dark purple.

I can tell some of you have never bought a bucket of paint before. They all have flashy names, and all look different of various surfaces.

Another part of dyes that bugs me is that it can look VERY different on the trim. Heirloom is a dark red dye on the main parts of armor, but is golden/orange on the trim. Pretty weird.

Cassius.8945:

I can tell some of you have never bought a bucket of paint before. They all have flashy names, and all look different of various surfaces.

Lovely. But this is a video game, not real life.

@Greyfeld.7104

I think that dyes are meant to be collected, while you want to use one dye, you’re bound to be disappointed, I mean, you HAVE to experiment with those, best method is buying a few dyes from a colour range and then try’em out, also they are pretty cheap, you sound like you just wasted a lot of money on one of the expensive dyes… that sounds more like gambling, try the others first, maybe you’ll think you made a bad choice on the colour anyway, also it’s not that expensive dyes like abyss are “better” ‘coz of the money you spent on’em, they are simply rare, they won’t look better than other dyes.

Materials on armor have to stay, it’s not that the light reflects the same way on a leather hat as an obsidian heavy helmet, materials are better than just “colours”, also they make the looks feel more…realistic.

Rfreak.6591:

@Greyfeld.7104

I think that dyes are meant to be collected, while you want to use one dye, you’re bound to be disappointed, I mean, you HAVE to experiment with those, best method is buying a few dyes from a colour range and then try’em out, also they are pretty cheap, you sound like you just wasted a lot of money on one of the expensive dyes… that sounds more like gambling, try the others first, maybe you’ll think you made a bad choice on the colour anyway, also it’s not that expensive dyes like abyss are “better” ‘coz of the money you spent on’em, they are simply rare, they won’t look better than other dyes.

Materials on armor have to stay, it’s not that the light reflects the same way on a leather hat as an obsidian heavy helmet, materials are better than just “colours”, also they make the looks feel more…realistic.

Actually, I’ve never spent more than a silver for any dye I’ve ever bought from the TP. But I know that a lot of people have spent a bit of money for specific dyes, then found out that it doesn’t look the same on their armor as it does on the dye preview.

And I don’t know about you (and I can’t speak for anybody else), but I don’t personally zoom in close enough to get a texture view of my character’s armor. I’d much rather just have the colors show up as they’re supposed to, instead of having a color show up as several different shades, depending on what armor it’s slapped on.

while i understand different materials look different, i do find it annoying sometimes when a dye looks totally different on one material than the other (i’m looking at you lemon!). makes matching it really hard.

It’s not that the colours “look” different on the armors, the light reflects differently depending on which material the armor is emulating, you see, this is basics in videogames they are used like everywhere and it’d take a MASSIVE tweak to turn off the materials like you want, but then shades and reflections would look crappy, heavily damaging this game’s looks.

The colour you applied is what you wanted, but the light reflects differently depending where you may be and the material, just try out blue ice dye, sunny=white, shadow=ice blue.

Here is an example of how much a dye can vary on armor… this is all the same color…

Aberrant.6749:

Here is an example of how much a dye can vary on armor… this is all the same color…

Looks about right.

I don’t know the reasoning Anet decided to do armor this way (easier to code, maybe?), but it’s definitely unintuitive.

I noticed recently using the starter dye “camel” on the Shadow set in particular. Well, the chest piece is crafted Shadow piece, and the legs are from a Karma vendor. Either way, used Camel on trim on Legs and on Chest. Chest = totally different color of brown. It’s the exact same set practically. >.<

Some colors really confuse me about their color schemes though. Things like “Grass” color, while it has grown on me, it is Green and then puts a red tint on everything as well. Grape Leaf does the same thing. To be honest I’m not even sure why the red exists in the color.

I also had a heck of a time on the Exalted armor set to get it to look decent…that armor dyes so bad….it wouldn’t be so bad if it didn’t have horrid starting colors.

Yeah, some armors really annoy me. I assume you’re talking about apprentice skirt when you mention gradient. I’ve found I can only dye it white or black otherwise it looks like trash. Another one that annoys me is the light vigil armor. The “skirt” and mantle simply cannot be dyed a light/bright color. Celestial shows up as a middling grey, which sabotages a great number of potential looks.

Jabberwock.9014:

Yeah, some armors really annoy me. I assume you’re talking about apprentice skirt when you mention gradient. I’ve found I can only dye it white or black otherwise it looks like trash.

Exactly right. I actually thought the apprentice skirt was really cute, but the gradient made it look ugly as hell. If I could control the color of the gradient, it’d be perfect (I could have it blend into a color I want, or just choose the same color so that it effectively looks like one solid color).

You have hue and saturation, right? Is there an opacity value to the dyes as well?

The way it works, most times it’s like you’re painting without doing a primer coat first. And you really wish you could add another coat or two.