Guild Wars 2

I’m trying to figure out if this is a bug, or by design, and would appreciate if this could be cleared up.

If you look at the karma gear available through heart-task vendors in zones like Bloodtide Coast and Sparkfly Fen, how customizable they are seems to depend on the race of the character wearing them.

For example, I buy the heavy armor boots for this set from a vendor in Bloodtide Coast on my Asura, and I can apply up to 3 different colors on it. When attempting to do the same thing on my Human or Norn character, I can only apply a maximum of 2 different colors on the boots. It is the same item, and yet the visually smallest representation of it is allowed to be detailed with 3 different colors while these big ol’ boots on the Norn can only sport 2 colors.

I suspect the options the Asura have are the correct one, as this is a set of armor that is frequently found on NPCs (including humans and Norns). And in those cases the individual armor pieces have three different colors on them (as opposed to being limited to just two), regardless of the race of the NPC.

So, to me it seems like the bug is on the Human/Norn side (and perhaps other races; for the purpose of this test I only tried Humans, Norn, and the Asura). The heavy armor leggings, tunic, and gauntlets from this set have the same disparity. The helm and pauldron, on the other hand, are consistent across the races.

Bug, or just the way it is? If it’s a bug, any chance we can bump the Human and Norn versions of these armor pieces up from 2 colors to 3?