The recent update to Star Wars: The

Old Republic introduced some character customization options

that have long been missing from the game. For some people, myself

included, these updates are great news. Some of us have made regrettable

errors early on - dumb legacy names that seemed clever at the time,

appearance options that made less sense once we saw our characters in

certain armors, etc. For others, the new character customization kiosks

give us the ability to affect physical character development - new scars

earned in important battles, greying hair showing the weight of a lengthy

career, changing weight from living lean or indulging in appetites.

Before I get onto my main topic, I'd like to point out that I like most

of Update 2.1: Customization. I've used the kiosk to

tweak a bunch of my toons and spent a bunch of Cartel Coins on it. At the

risk of being labeled a Furry, I unlocked the Cathar race and rolled a

couple of new Cathar characters (and I may switch a couple of others to

this new race later on - I like the roar emote they get). I have some

niggling concerns over the kiosk (why is it Cartel Coins only, with no

credits option like the legacy stuff?), but I think the overall idea is a

good one and is mostly well-implemented. It was a big step in the right

direction for SWTOR, and one of the things I was very much looking forward

to in this update.

One of the most anticipated changes with the 2.1 update, however, was the

addition of armour dyes. Players were promised that we would be able to

re-color our outfits to better reflect our personal styles. There are a

lot of interesting armour models in the game, many of which I would use if

they didn't come in such ugly colours. Personally, this was the one thing

I was most looking forward to. It is also the source of my biggest

disappointment with SWTOR to date.

Not that BioWare didn't deliver on the promise. Dyes were indeed added

in, and most armors are indeed dye-able. The problem is that the system is

terribly implemented. It's a familiar tactic with BioWare by now - promise

the players something awesome, and then make it available only through

gambling or peer-exploitation.

Armor dyes are available a few different ways. A few dyes are available

from specialty vendors in exchange for credits. These are more or less

reasonable - the cost is not outrageous, but the selection is rather

sparse. Dyes are also available through the Artifice crew skill, but again

the selection is sparse and the craftable colours are largely unappealing.

Obviously, that's an aesthetic concern and not everyone will agree.

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250399">

The primary way most players will purchase armor dyes is either through

the Cartel Market or through the Galactic Trade Network. This is where

things get dodgy and borderline abusive.

Bioware figured out early on that loads of players are willing to gamble

real cash money for the promise of desirable "fluff" items. That's the

premise behind every Cartel pack so far, and those have been among their

best sellers since the Cartel Market first opened - they must be, because

BioWare keeps making new ones with nearly every update. Rather than

offering the few desirable items for direct sale, even at a premium price,

they are packaging the hot items as rare drops in variety packs, buried in

an avalanche of junk that the recipients can't even give away. Players who

really want the cool stuff will keep buying the variety packs until the

item they want drops, or they will pay outrageous prices on the GTN.

This is how the dye modules work. 200 Cartel Coins buys the player a Dye

Module Kit containing two random dye modules, usable once each. The odds

that any player will get a colour that he actually wants are determined by

a random number generator - you might get a coveted black/black or

white/white module on your very first purchase, or you might end up buying

dozens of the damn things without getting one.

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250400">

I'll say that again, because it bears repeating: it costs 200 Cartel

Coins for a chance at good armor colours. Most likely, that 2

bucks (roughly) will buy you a couple of ugly colours you don't want,

wouldn't use and can't even sell because hundreds of other players are

selling the exact same hideous mess. The "standard" result from these

things seems to be colour modules that make your character look like a

dollar-store action figure, the kind that kids habitually burn with

lighters or explode with firecrackers or shoot with pellet guns. There's a

very slim chance you'll get something good that you can sell for good

money on the GTN, but it's a long-shot gamble. Every time, you're shooting

craps and hoping for boxcars.

Of course, this rarity means that the desirable items fetch absurd prices

on the GTN. It's certainly easy enough to earn lots of credits if you have

loads of time to play the game and/or the cash to sell Cartel Market stuff

on the GTN, but 3 million credits for one dye module is - let's face it -

kind of ridiculous. But that's what you pay if you want the Johnny Cash

look.

This isn't an argument about the "ethics" of selling desirable items on

the GTN for very high sums - it's supply and demand, and the sellers are

only asking what the buyers are willing to pay. The "fair" price for an

item is whatever someone is willing to pay for it. 3 million is perfectly

fair and reasonable for a rare item that is desirable, and it won't stay

that high forever. That's how the economy works - the wealthy set the

prices, and the not-wealthy either save up or do without. For the

not-wealthy, this may feel unfair or exploitative, and there is always

lots of shouting about it. But that's capitalism, baby. That's how

player-driven economies work. The leet get leeter, and the noobs stay

nooby.

But even if you do luck out and get a black/black module from a random

dye pack, or save up enough to buy one from the GTN for whatever

ridiculous sum is being currently commanded for one, that's no guarantee

it's going to actually make your armor look any better. Some items have

been deemed "iconic," and cannot be dyed a different colour. And other

items have rather questionable dye channels, with accents that clash with

any new colour scheme.

There's one item in particular that I had hope for pre-patch: the Thul

Statesman's Coat. In general, I like the long grey overcoat with the sash.

It looks nice and lordly and important, something a space-mayor would

wear. The thing I don't like about it is the hot pink satin lining and

undershirt that comes with it. It's for that reason alone that none of my

characters have worn this garment. I have one in storage, and I was

waiting for the customization update before I gave it to anyone.

Needless to say, I was quite disappointed to learn that the hot pink

satin was not a dye-able feature of this item. The Primary channel is the

large exterior areas, and the Secondary colour channel is the

barely-visible trim along the collar and hem. So no matter what colour you

dye the thing, your character still ends up looking like a semi-powerful

person on his way to a 1970s roller-disco.

That's not the only garment with terrible dye channels, of course. Here's

a little gallery of questionable designs, running through some of the

"highlights" I discovered while trying on various adaptable chest pieces.

For this gallery, I used a primary green, secondary yellow dye module.

This color pack, while eye-bleedingly unattractive, shows strong contrast

between the primary and secondary dye channels, and the rest of the

colours that are, for whatever reason, native to the armour piece and

immutable.

Same Model, Different Rules src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250404">



Revan's Chest Plate - No secondary channel visible, bronze-coloured

chest parts don't dye. src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250405">



A nearly identical model, but the trim shows secondary colours. Grey

parts don't dye. src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250406">



Phantom Chest Guard - similar model with clear dye channels, but the

glowing red parts stay red. Undershirts src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250408">



Eradicator's Cuirass - proof that undershirts can act as secondary

dye channels... src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250409">



...but they rarely ever do. Street Slicer's Longcoat plus un-dyeable

white t-shirt. src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250411">



Three undershirts are ignored as secondary dye channels, in favor of

minor trimmings on the shoulder pads. Parts That

Can't Be Dyed src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250410">



No combination of dyes can make the CZ-5 Armored Assault Harness

look good because of those un-dyeable bits. src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250407">



Dire Overlord's Vestments - the purple trim doesn't dye, no

secondary colours visible. src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250412">Huttsbane's

Coat has puke-orange sleeves that cannot be dyed. Weird Dye Channels src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250413">



Most of the Honored Saberist's Harness is unaffected by dye. Just

the underarmor.

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250414">



The secondary dye channel on the Organa Loyalist Chestguard is the

tiny highlights on the backpack, rather than the more obvious large

parts on the arms and chest.

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250415">



In contrast, the Honored Master's Vestments is mostly secondary dye

channel.







I really wanted to like this new system - in other games, particularly

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/lotro">the Lord of the Rings

Online

, I've spent plenty of real cash and hours of game timepeacocking my characters with the perfect dye and outfit combinations. Wayback in the day, I would spend hours farming the five or sixneekerbreekers in Angmar that dropped the super-rare ingredient needed tomake red dye, and cursed out loud any time I failed to crit either the RedDye recipe or the Rust Dye recipe to make black.

Of course, that all changed later on as the game matured. Eventually, the

recipe for Red Dye changed from the rare drop of Neeker ichor to Juicy

Strawberries, which could be farmed much more easily. And some time after

that, with the introduction of crafting guilds, guild recipes allowed for

guaranteed success making black dyes, in bulk, once per week. Later still,

players could simply buy the dyes they wanted directly from the LotRO

store - not so great news for crafters who used to make a killing with

dyes, but good news for anyone flush with Turbine Points but poor in

silver and gold.

SWTOR's system of armor dyes is also a mixed blessing of sorts - terrible

for all players, who get no real control over what they are buying unless

they resort to the peer-extorion of the player-driven marketplace; but

great for BioWare, who have become like Vegas casino bosses in a gangster

movie, making money hand over fist off of all the suckers

gamblers. The game studio always wins.

It is my hope that, some day down the line, BioWare follows Turbine's

lead and makes this system more player-friendly. Players would be willing

to buy the colours they want, even at a premium price point. It works in

any Cryptic/PWE game - the top-demand dyes always sell for more Zen than

boring browns and pukey greens and subdued blues. I have no problem with

game developers wanting to make money with their new content - they have

to, in order to finance future development and to continue maintaining

their game. But there's a way to do it that doesn't involve exploiting

customers with a transparent cash-grab.

There's an argument that always comes up when anyone complains about

shady stuff like this: "It's just for looks. You don't need it, so don't

buy it and stop complaining." Sure, armour dye is the very definition of

cosmetic fluff. And no, we are not required to buy it to enjoy the game.

But there's a reason we aren't playing 8-bit games anymore, either. If

looks weren't important to gamers, we wouldn't have DirectX 11 to make

water more ripply and tree leaves more leafy. We wouldn't be buying $1000

video cards because it has more "tesselation power" than the $800 one.

It's not the necessity of the item that drives the complaints - it's the

actual personal value. This type of item holds value to some players, and

there is value in allowing these players to make their characters look the

way they want them to. There is no value in selling players slot machine

tokens that may or may not pay out. We're not getting what we pay for.

We're getting a chance to get what we pay for, but more likely

ending up with something essentially valueless. Or something so abominably

hideous, it's almost appropriate...

src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/250402">

I'm still a fan of the game, and most of the rest of Update 2.1 has been

great. But Sam Rothstein and Nicky Santoro can find me at a different game

table in their casino until they get the crap-shoot sorted out. I'll be

saving my Cartel Coins for other things.