It's mostly the failed politics of the servers than chronicle itself. NCwest had real 12k+ at its beginning before they started bending players over. If they weren't greedy they'd still have those, but when they introduce in L2store virtually RB jewels on steroids (-40% MP consumption, lel), it's hard to keep playing there. Right now the best Classic server to play is the Club which is decently populated but the updates take just way too long
People want the Classic, just nobody offered the 100% solution yet. Because let's be honest, Classic is basically a combination of the best of the old chronicles in new UI, it's obvious that it's the future. Sooner or later even Stalonki will realize.