I have been thinking a bit about why people seem to like House of the Dragon more than Rings of Power. I think there's a few things going on.
1. Expectation gap. HotD had a veneer of low expectations due to how GoT ended and is pleasantly surprising; RoP has to follow some of the very best films of all time (people seem to basically neuralyze The Hobbit from their minds for whatever reason) and is just good, which gets rounded down to "unspeakable garbage" by the online mob*
2. Technology. HotD is running on newer storytelling technology. If 21st century legacy TV is a Tesla, then RoP is a classic car. Anything can happen in HotD -- no sex, violence, or taboo is off limits (this isn't actually true, but it feels that way). RoP is bound by the decorum of Tolkien -- I even saw one reviewer complain that a dwarf _almost_ cursed in the last episode. Cliffhangers and sex scenes, and cliffhanger sex scenes, are not allowed in Tolkienland, where everything is as dignified as High King Gil-galad.
For the record, I am enjoying the shows about the same, with a slight edge to House of the Dragon — I think Galadriel’s writing has been a little weak and she seems to be the center of the most central storyline.
*This reminds me, I would like to coin the Mobs Round Down rule. Anything that is simply mediocre to good (lets say in the 6-8 range, I think RoP is sitting at an 8) will get rounded down to terrible, which creates a negative halo effect spread by social contagion (which is then monetized by outrage YouTubers). If you watch something with a negative halo effect, you will, on average, like it less than if you had watched it without that effect.