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You think dynamic lighting is that intense graphically? We're not talking 3d so it seems relatively simple.I think the fundamental issue is that as a product niche it is still young and there isn't that much money in it. So progress is slow. But on the bright side progress will happen. Likely to occur when some related technology matures for other reasons to make it cheap enough for a VTT company to do. So far that been literally been the history of VTTs. Taking tools developed for other industries and repurposing them for tabletop roleplaying. Starting with a text chat bolted to a internet connected whiteboard along with a few RPG utilities like a dice roller.
Something like Roll20 was not possible in 2004 when Fantasy Grounds was introduced. Which is why Fantasy Grounds was a dedicated client. Also server hosted wasn't quite a thing then. Now it can be had for pennies as a result of virtual servers maturing. HTML5 was introduced in 2008, tools matured then around 2010 I started to see serious attempt making web based VTTs. Roll20 was launched in 2012.
There are two technologies potentially impacting VTTs. One is pattern recognition neural networks, for the application of recognizing character sheets and maps.
The other, I am not sure of it exact name. But what it does is allow you to run PC Games over the internet as if it was your own computer. Basically a server spools up a PC with a very nice graphic cards and streams the video to you, and in turn your client or web browser sends back your keyboard, mouse, or joystick. It application to VTT is that VTT itself is running on a virtual PC, and what you see is the video stream back. This allow processor intensive stuff like Dynamic Lighting to be handled way faster.