I am not being sarcastic here...for once, but seriously...why not just release dye tubes that just dye anything any color?
It has no negative effect on gameplay, and players would love to customize their characters even more.
Having taken a look a couple of other MMOs recently, I can say the following:
- UO really shines when it comes to character customization. Go play WoW, and you will see that everyone at blank level with blank gear that are blank class look just alike. Boring!
- Champions Online has the right idea! Make it so that you can make your character look however you want. It's your character, and if you want to make her look really awesome, or really silly, or really dark, or really perky...you should be able to...without having to do anything special. In the old days of UO, we had cloth, and dye tubs. These were not expensive or restricted to any certain group. The idea was the same as Champions...let the play decide what they want to look like. Good idea!