User:Qrystal/Dye guide

The purpose of this article is to provide a guide to the various aspects of Dye, beyond the basics of just the definitions of the Vial of Dye and the Dye Preview panel.

Using Dye
The main purpose of dye is to customize the visual appearance of a character. Since taste is highly subjective, it is always a good idea to carefully examine the view in the Dye Preview panel before applying the dye.

Note that the colour of an item before dying has no effect on the new colour. The new colour completely replaces the old one.

Effect of Dye on different items
The same colour of dye may look very different when applied to different items. It is important to use the Dye Preview panel to ensure you are satisfied with the results. Some peculiarities of note include:


 * Some items only have a few parts that are coloured (for example, Elementalist Pyromancer's Armor is affected only along the trim).
 * Some items may dye brightly while others are very pale (for example, using purple on female Mesmer armor compared to female Elementalist armor) (CHECK THIS! Would an image help?).
 * Some items (like the Chaos Axe) dye a completely different colour than the colour of dye that is applied.
 * Some equippable items (such as many focus items) show no noticeable change when dye is applied.
 * Backpacks, Belt Pouches, and Bags dye immediately when a vial is applied to them, bringing up no Dye Preview panel. It is very easy to accidentally dye these items when you are intending to dye something inside of it.

Mixing Dye
The Dye Preview panel also allows the mixing of up to four vials of dye prior to application. The order of vials does not matter, except that the second dye cannot be the same as the first (because it would have no effect). See the Dye Preview panel for instructions.

When mixing, it may be useful to have some idea of what colours should make up the colour you want. Some mixes are easier to make than others.

Basic colour-mixing theory
There are three primary colours of dye: red, yellow, and blue.

Secondary colours can be made by combining any two primary colours: The secondary colours already exist as vials in-game, so it is not necessary to mix them. However, (CHECK THIS!) the colours are slightly different (How?).
 * red + yellow = orange
 * red + blue = purple
 * yellow + blue = green

Tertiary colours can be made by combining a secondary with one of its component primaries. For example: But mixing orange with any other colour will give some shade of brown:
 * orange + red = reddish orange
 * orange + yellow = yellowish orange
 * orange + blue = brown
 * orange + purple = reddish-brown
 * orange + green = yellowish-brown

Colours in between the tertiary colours ones are quite easy to predict (for example, an even more reddish orange can be obtained by mixing orange + red + red).

Mixing all three primaries, if they were of exactly the right balance of shades and saturations, should theoretically give black; however, in practice, a shade of murky brown is the result. Mixing any two secondaries will also result in some other shade of brown. Brown dye vials are similar to a mix of (what?).

Adding black makes a colour darker. Adding white makes a colour paler. Adding grey reduces the saturation, making vivid colours more dim and making pale colours greyish. Adding brown to a vivid colour tends to reduce the saturation, much like grey, but with a much warmer effect. Adding brown to a pale colour is similar to adding both orange and black. (CHECK ALL THIS!)

Making Pink
There are as many ways to mix to get pink as there are people who are looking to do it. Because every item dyes differently, it is best to experiment with the following combinations to see which is most appealing to you on that item.

red + purple = "hot pink" red + white = "light pink" etc.

Vial of Dye (Mixed)
Prior to the implementation of the Dye Preview panel, the only way to mix dye was to do it within the vials themselves, creating a Vial of Dye (Mixed). These dyes cannot be used with the new Dye Preview panel, and simply dye the chosen item outright. They also cannot be mixed any further.

The Dye economy
Prices of dye fluctuate with demand, but there are some trends that have been remaining fairly consistent. For up-to-the-minute prices, please check with a Dye Trader, who will provide a quote that reflects the server-wide supply and demand for each colour.

Pre-Searing Dye economy
It is believed that Dye drops more frequently in Pre-Searing. This assumption is based on the idea that there are fewer possible options for drops, and so dye may be expected to come up more often than when in a place where there are a lot of options for drops. Another theory is that age affects the Dye drop rate, and so new characters have a likelihood of being exposed to dye rather early in their existence.

Assumptions aside, Dye collection in Pre-Searing is interesting because of certain factors which influence the economy there:
 * Pre-Searing does not have a Dye Trader, so player interaction is the only measurement of the worth of Dye.
 * Players do not have access to their storage vaults, or any money on their other characters. This affects the value of gold in Pre-Searing:  gold is more valuable in Pre-Searing since it cannot be obtained as easily.  Thus, it is not unusual to see Dye prices lower in Pre-Searing than in Post.

History of Dye

 * Date of change: October 25, 2006 update
 * Dye Remover
 * Vial of Dye (Mixed)
 * old default colours of armor
 * old external links to colour tables

Future location of this article
Dye guide