Here's my two cents.

In KotR, we did not have RBG's. Thus, in the early game, General's Bodyguards were scarce. At that stage, there was no rule in place to recruit RBG's, so the loss of an avatar was devastating to the faction, and to you personally.

Consequently, we saw far fewer massacres of the AI. Heavy cavalry was scarce, and so there were far few exploits on the AI.

Another consequence was the slower pace of expansion. So far, in less that one term, we have conquered Caenarvon, Valencia, Zaragoza, Metz, Bruges, Antwerp, and Staufen - a total of 7 provinces!

In KotR, in Kaiser Heinrich's first term of 20 turns, we have conquered Bern, Hamburg, Metz, and Brandenburg - only 4 provinces in twice the time.

Thus you can already see the vast difference between the two games.

Another point is that the King hasn't assigned any provinces except Metz to Lorraine. It means it is very hard for players like myself to get into the game. What's the point in taking initiative if there's no reward. Also, only 6 people will be able to run for Seneschal next term, which means it will be largely uninteresting for the bulk of the player base.