October 16, 2008

Toe-to-Toe: Warhammer Color & Dye System

One of the coolest things concerning the Warhammer Online item system is it's color & dying part. The WAR dye system will let you dye most (but not all) items in a color you want. Nearly every merchant has the ability to dye items. You can choose in the dyeing UI if you just want to dye a single item (just choose that one) or use the checkbox to apply the same color scheme to all your armor. All armor has a primary and a secondary color. You can left and right click on the color dots to dye primary or secondary colors. There are 14 colors offered by default from the vendors. There are rumours about other colors being available at higher renown ranks, but so far I've heard of none being confirmed.

Beside merchant bought dyes there are more possibilities to get different looking colors... Some quests offer dye containers as a reward. Don't be afraid to try them out, as you'll always get a confirmation window after the preview if you really want to use that color. So it's safe to check them out on your armor. Many color names found inside WAR suggest that Mythic uses the Games Workshop Citadel Colours from the original game, but some people on the forums complain the colors are not 100% original in tone, maybe due to some armor layer clipping. The large color table suggests that later on Mythic will possibly add more colors as different rewards. There are also some rare colors (like Enchanted Blue Dye (looks like a smurf) or Blood Red Dye) you can get as drops. I found them in Mount Gunbad and RvR so far, so i guess they're just random world drops of dye.

The most interesting & rare colors many thought were supposed to come from crafting. Well, let me tell you I'm a 200 Apothecary and 200 Cultivator and it's not really true until now. Of course I'm not rank 40 yet and maybe there are some mysterious ingredients that eluded me yet, but so far the possibilities to craft dyes are very limited. I don't want to turn this into a crafting explanation, but there is only so much with the available ingredients and containers for dye you can do and try out. If you managed to create dyes other then the obvious ones, share with us. The worst thing is that the crafted colors look nearly the same then merchant ones or drops. How does crafting dyes work? Well, Cultivators can get special moments (better then a critical success) and gain pigment extracts from growing plants. An Apothecary can take Mortar and Pestle (vendor item) and fixer plus a pigment extract to craft dye. Basic fixer lvl 1 can be bought from a vendor but Cultivators can get higher level fixers from special moments as well. The highest fixer i got until today is lvl 125, don't know anyoneone who got a better one. Colored pigments i found so far include yellow (Golden Yellow Dye), brown (Scorched Brown Dye), green (Goblin Green Dye), blue (Seaguard Blue Dye) and red (Red Gore Dye).

Some people claim they crafted violet or black dye, but i did not see any proof yet. Screenshots & explanations or it did not happen. The dye system is one of the greatest item features and I'm positive we'll see more dyes soon as special rewards.

Tip of the Day: If you try to brew potions with Apothecary and the potion fails, use water as a stabilizer. You can use up to three water for the same potion to stabilize it. After the vendor bought water is not good enough anymore you'll need better water or zoic from other scavengers & butchers.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

If you dye stuff alot you get the title "The Fashionable" .

It's my biggest money sink to date, and thats why I went into apothecary as well. Have I found any pigments...nope not yet as of level 23

Ainilome said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Tip of the Tip of the day: As your Apoth skill increases, you need less stablizers. Higher level vials add stability. So, while you may need dropped water to use those level 65 apoth skill leechs while your apoth skill is in the 70 to 99, once you push past 100 you can switch back to 3xCloudy Water.

This varies based on your apoth skill, the skill requirements of the main ingrediant and the nature of the main ingrediant. Some main ingrediants need more/less stabilization. For example, the skill 65 leech at skill 65 will need 1 Thin Vial (the skill 50 vendor), 1 Distilled Water (Skill 50, drop) and 2 Cloudy Waters. A flea that is also skill 65 needs the thin vial and 3x distilled waters, to make the exact same healing potion.