Wrb blue
 

Has the wrb paint quality increased over the past few years? I love the color but looking at mid 2000s wrx (in general), the paint quality overtime seems stale and bland.

Can you explain to me how quality becomes "stale and bland"?

I guess he means it fades and dulls.

Take care of the paint and make sure to wash it regularly and perform maintenance on it at the proper intervals (clay bar, wax, polish) and the paint should stay shiny and nice the entire life of the car.

It wouldn't be smart to judge the OEM's paint quality on someone else's car because they may simply not care about their paint finish and barely wash it, if even that.

That's why I said in general. There are a lot of wrxs in my area all ranging in the last decade, and the color on the majority of them seems like they have faded.

I am asking, aside from taking care of the car, has the paint quality changed.

Yes, any car can fade and dull if not properly maintained.

It seems like the newer WRB paint has more metallic to it compared to the bug-eyed WRX's WRB.

It's not so much a problem with WRB but modern paints (specifically paints used by japanese auto manufacturers) that has this issue. They are softer than they used to be and don't hold up as well over time. Other paint colors that Subaru uses have this same issue but aren't as noticeable since some colors show flaws better than others.

I've checked and the BRZ's WRB paint is the exact same code as what came on the 2002 WRX I bought 11 years ago.