Shaders aren't some magic wand. Look at World of Warcraft. No shaders. Looks amazing. You can make great looking games in DX7. What it comes down to is how good your artist is.
Sure, shaders would let you do MORE, like, more easily make nice looking terrain, but you're not even using what you've got now to its full extent.
You could have the nicest looking grass and water in the world, but if you're going to populate the world with castles and soldiers that look like they were created by a kid who's still learning how to model and texture, what's the point? It would actually look worse because the graphics wouldn't be consistent.
Sure, shaders would let you do MORE, like, more easily make nice looking terrain, but you're not even using what you've got now to its full extent.
You could have the nicest looking grass and water in the world, but if you're going to populate the world with castles and soldiers that look like they were created by a kid who's still learning how to model and texture, what's the point? It would actually look worse because the graphics wouldn't be consistent.