Ok, so some of what I've got is a little off topic, but in reading through as many other threads as I could, this seems the most appropriate place to post this.
Here's my Idea:
Firstly, the topic of creating new character classes has been beaten into a slopping, crunching pulp of blood, bone and cartaliage, but in reading the posts on that topic, I (as I'm sure many others) have come accross the most easily integratable profession: The Engineer. What makes this relevant to detailed color control is that I would like (were I a developer) to take this profession a little further to encompass equipment design, most notably the abilty to put together crafting materials to create different armor peices, detailed later in this post.
Instead of a focus on siege weapons, perhaps integrate the use of polearms, and possibly crossbows, but for the most part, have this profession satisfy the cries for another melee class.
The primary purpose of the engineer would be to supplement the current armor and weapons crafters by expanding upon the ideas laid out in this post about sub-dividing armors and weapons into individual components. Where you have all stated a desire to color individual sub-divisions of armors and weapons, I propose taking it a step further to be able to design (in a feasable, limited way) individual pieces.
What I mean by this is, taking a ranger's drakescale glove for example, there are three separate components: The underlying fabric, the protective scales, and the leather that binds them. The Engineer could (in exploring the world) gather crafting items that could be used to combine into a design of their making. For instance (again using the drakeskale glove), it would require scales, tanned hide, and possibly cloth. But what if you think that a shell would provide greater protection? Or even steel for that matter (leaving out class restrictions for the moment)? Then you could combine tanned hide, shell (or steel ingots), and cloth to design and then craft a new glove.
To make it fair for everyone, Engineers could only craft or design in a city (as either would require a substantial amount of time in reality), and others could commission work to be done. In addition to this, Engineers could design an item (requiring no materials to be spent, but would have to still possess them), creating design plans that could be stored for a later time or be crafted by any regular crafter (making not only a cheaper option for non-engineers, but also a less bothersome approach for engineers - can you imagine a thousand players accosting a single Engineer!?).
The Engineers would need to have an extra GUI window available for previewing their designs, which would show the available craft items in their inventory. Beginning the process, the Engineer would select an armor peice or weapon to craft. Perhaps at position x, a generic ghost of the item would appear, and a column, sub-dividing the item into its component parts would appear at position y. The Engineer could then drag and drop the crafting items in thier inventory to each component box, which would solidify that component, over the ghost, in the preview window. Once all items are placed, and the Engineer is satisfied, they would then have the option to create a design plan, or to craft. Designing would generate a design plan item in the player's inventory, which could be traded. Crafting the item would consume the specified materials, and possibly a portion of money. That newly crafted item would then, like the design plan, be generated into the player's inventory to be traded or auctioned away.
Now, when dying these sub-divided items, a similar GUI window to the Engineer's design/craft window would be used, displaying the item, and its subdivided components, as well as available dyes. The difference would be that non-Engineers would not be able to craft or design (well, maybe they could design, or heck even craft, if ANET wants), but rather the preview would show the item as each is applied, and then when the player is satisfied, can select "DYE" (as opposed to "DESIGN" or "CRAFT"), permanently dying the item. Dying would be unlimited as long as the player has the dyes to use.
Now maybe I'm just crazy, but that's my idea.
Another example is with knight's armor where default is silver and yellow, when i dye it, it only changes the yellow and not the silver part. We should be able to dye the whole armor one color if we have to.
It'd be great. You can have black with gold or silver trim... that would look amazing. hehe.
