Check out this thread. About a year ago a "bug" was introduced that added "skin lighting". The community seemed split of the change. Some people liked the change for the reasons you mention. Unfortunately for those in your camp, a lot of other people didn't like this look and wanted the change reverted. I can't find the old forum threads now (maybe because of the forum change from a few months ago) but I believe Anet declared it was an unintended bug and reverted it.
Here are some example people recording while the "bug" was active.
