Ah, Schrodinger's Players, who do not interact with D&D online, but somehow simultaneously make their preferences known (and always align with the one invoking them).
I don't have any preference, other than to just let the designers do their jobs without bringing in public playtest marketing...
The ToV MM is superior in every way. It bugs me because it was the MM previews that made me give 2024 a shot, but in the end they did not do anything to make the vast majority of D&D monsters interesting to run or fight. They may be "better balanced for their CRs" but they are still boring bags...
I don't think that is the factor. After all, we call them roleplaying games, which strongly suggests that roleplaying is a thing independent of the game part. After all, we can roleplay with out therapists and our SOs, with needing dice.