I think you're reading too much into it. They could have just picked a colour if they wanted to, they just wanted a general consensus on what would look best. It's not like this went on for weeks or anything.
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The font is often greener on the other side.
I am actually glad SE lets us choose on the mundane stuff and not what really matters, like important features in development. As is widely known, gamers do not really know what they want, thats the game developer's job and a simple color change on a name does not affect long term features or content they have planned.
Why do you need a color for gear below your level? Seems dumb that you wouldn't get full stats from gear if you are over its optimal rank.