head to head
vs
Medieval: Total WarvsThe Lord of the Rings Online
Medieval: Total War leans Optimization (Pure Optimization); The Lord of the Rings Online leans Optimization (Pure Optimization).
Medieval: Total WarThe Lord of the Rings Online
Axis by axis
Execution3 vs 4
The Lord of the Rings Online leans harder on execution: Raid content has limited twitch demand versus action MMOs
Reads2 vs 2
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance3 vs 3
Even - both lean on variance about the same.
Optimization8 vs 7
Medieval: Total War leans harder on optimization: Campaign economy and battlefield doctrine are deeply learnable
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.