I love this game, but the reasons it hasn't been popular has little to do with its graphics. It has more to do with its nature.
I'll just give a list of things describing how Wurm Online was in 2012:
1) It had no in-game map and/or in-game radar
2) Corpse runs (and when you die, your items remain on the corpse, as well as losing skill experience)
3) Gameplay isn't quest driven, in fact, it's not really driven by anything at all
4) You're thrown into the world (and basically not given direction)
5) Pvp servers is Free-For-All
6) You can lose everything (it's lootable or lock-pickable) on the Pvp servers (including everything on your corpse)
7) Gaining skills (known as levels in other games) was/is very, very, VERY slow
8) The free game caps your skills to 20
9) UI was minimal - almost NO hand-holding (but most importantly it's not bloated)
10) High level (or otherwise dangeorus) creatures regularly roam the wilderness
11) No easy way to find out where you can readily build your house or plot of land without directly exploring
Basically, the game was and still is veyr inaccessible to the modern gaming audience.
That's largely why I loved and still love this game so much: it's hostile and doesn't guide you. What I experienced in 2012, I kid you not, outdoes EQ, my first love, and every other MMO I've ever touched. This game blew me away and continued to! It was so incredibly immersive. The tension when exploring was palpable. And the world, the world! Was alive and breathing!
Yet there're things I don't like about it. My complaints are complex, however. I've written threads in their forums about it.
I'll (try to) keep it simple:
Skill Development - .... is too lacking! It leads to a lot of grind. More works needs to be done to break up the monotony. Even the very basic process of imping carpentry items via (pelt+carving knife+file+log+hammer) is much better than the monotony of mining or fishing. One of the possible reasons it's this way is so players can queue several actions and then go afk to browse the internet or cook dinner. There's some merit to that, but it's not going to be a popular idea if your game is made to be played afk.
Player Community - .... is hampered by skill progression! Lower level players generally have essentially no value to the community if the community is composed of higher skill members. This is the case because almost nothing the lower level player can do is of competitive value. SOME THINGS have value for a new player in the community, roughly speaking, like dirt or stone bricks or digging the terrain. Yet the problem of higher skill players always being better at things still looms over it like a heavy gloom.
So what to do? There're probably many ways of addressing this "shorfall" in community integrity.
1. Decrease the absolute value gained from X skill to X+Y skill. So if a player creates an anvil at skill level 30 and creates another at skill level 70, the items which're produced will be closer in value. This is true for any difference in skill level. This places a cap on how much better items are when they're produced by playres with higher skill. A lower value means new players are more competitive.
2. Limit some items to lower skill ranges. For example, a mallet might cap at carpentry skill level 20. If a player has a higher carpentry skill than 20 the mallet will not recieve any benefits when it's created over one that's created at skill level 20. What this achieves is it sets aside some items for lower skill ranges, thus giving value to players in those skill ranges if they produce the relevant items.
Skill-restricted items - .... should be unlocked and spread out! For example, if an item is currently locked behind a 25-skill requirement in order to build it then remove the lock and allow someone to build it at skill level 1. But ensure what they make is low quality. Also ensure the item is connected to many recipes IN OTHER SKILLS. This prevents (or reduces) players from suddenly having to make something they've never made before but having no decent way to make it without grinding a useless (or otherwise unknown and irrelevant) skill. And keep in mind this whole deficit is made even worse by grindy (read: undeveloped) skills.
High level creatures - .... are probably too common and uniformly (indiscriminately) spread. I think part of this is due to so many high skill players wanting things to hunt, so they want them everywhere. However, this can make it hard for new players to explore and/or get around. I'm not against
hard, absolutely not! But I do think sometimes it's abnormal. I think placing higher level creatures more discriminately in true wilderness, as well as not uniformally, is a better option. There has to be a way to do that and also please the hunters or the people who want creatures to be easy to find. There's a way where there's a will.
......
Alas, my cries will go unheard and the game is going to do whatever it wants. I'm resigned now to the understanding Wurm Online is going to be mudflated and 'dumbed down' just like any other MMO. Its only advantage is it started out its decline in a place I (mostly) loved, although not without its imperfections. Yet the gradual slide to old age is inevitably wearing on me.
Lastly I want to add the game has added in-game maps and bulked up its UI in other ways since 2012. It has also given new players easier "houses" to make by allowing them to build tents. It has done other things as well, but the game still has much of its old school flavor from 2012. I'll add I don't agree with every change. For example, its crafting UI is not what I'd make, if it were me making it. I think the crafting UI should have acted more like a quest UI. Instead it's disjointed and not nearly as helpful.
I play on Chaos (Pvp server). I can be found nearby to The Landing. If anybody is interested in finding me, go there. I play infrequently. I'm not deeded. If you PM me here, I can introduce you to the game.
Oh and here're some things to start with:
1) It's about $21 for 2 months of gametime (my preferred method - in 2012 it was $13 for 2 months!)
2) You have to pay money for deeds, but you don't HAVE to have them - they make owning and maintaining property easier
3) The client is java and quick to download - the patches are small (my wurm directory is only 1.3 gigs
4) The graphics, despite all the naysayers, EVEN IN 2012, were beautiful in my eyes
5) You can earn silver in-game and buy gametime with it (some players don't spend any $$$ to play)
6) You can play for a while comfortably (maybe a month or two) without paying anything, up to skill level 20
7) My system is old-ish - 2.3ghz dual-core, 3gb ram, 9800 gt - the game runs smooth
* you will need a dedicated video card or a newer system to run the game smoothly
8) Don't say I didn't warn you: This game requires years and has lots of grind.
9) Wurm-logic happens, it's something which will p*** you off, but you learn to live with it
Some links to get you started on the long road to becoming a Wurmian:
http://surviverman-on-wurm.blogspot.com/p/adventure-1.html
http://wurmpedia.com/index.php/Server_types
http://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/35467-guide-to-the-stone-age/
http://wurmpedia.com/index.php/Main_Page
http://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/40508-guide-to-feeding-yourself/
http://wurmpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Interface_and_Controls