Rift from Trion: Is it Better Than World of Warcraft?

Trion has recently launched their newest game, and their first MMO. Rift is a game similar to many other MMO's in the gameplay, but has very major differences in both gameplay, graphics, and other in-game features.

At a glance, or while looking through some gameplay videos online, it may seem that Rift is a "World of Warcraft clone", however while playing, I don't feel as if I'm playing a game like WoW at all. There are very major differences which set the games apart, and the community is very differently setup. It is hard to compare both games side by side (as many people from either game like to do), however I will do my best, and in a constructive manner.

Game Flow
World of Warcraft is undoubtedly the most fluid game out of all of the MMO's, and this is why Blizzard gets so many people playing it. Many other games, like Aion, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Final Fantasy, and others are not nearly as fluid. Character movement, combat, tab targetting, raiding, and doing dungeons is awkward at first due to the difference in the game platform performance. While this is hard to explain, you will best understand my statement if you play WoW and then Aion. Rift however has made vast improvements over other games in fluid character movement and combat, however it still does not compare to WoW. It probably will in the future though.

Endgame
Blizzard has put hard focus on the endgame content in WoW, and this is much of what makes up the content of each patch. While this is a great thing, it also is bad for those who wish to level, or are not interested in hardcore endgame raiding or PvP. Also, the PvP system in WoW is very rarely changed, and battlegrounds are very rarely added. Rift does an amazing job of keeping the content new. Also, endgame content in Rift is very different. There are currently not any raids (there will be soon, the game just came out!), rather, people participate in very large world events: rifts, invasions, and many other world boss-type events. This adds some serious spice to the game if you were used to World of Warcraft and only raiding. It's quite annoying to have to sit in trade chat making groups for hours on end to do a 25-man raid, or to have to log in 4 nights a week for several hours a night on schedule to raid with a progressive guild. In Rift, you will do just fine logging in and headed to where the invasions or rifts are on your own - When you get there you will be automatically invited to a public party in which you can defeat the invaders. At the end, you will receive loot based on your contributions made to the group. I personally prefer the group content to WoW.

Leveling
Leveling is something of the past in WoW. Most serious players do not enjoy leveling characters, rather it is one serious grind to get another class to 85 for raiding or for arena. Very rarely do people actually enjoy leveling through the content in WoW. So far in Rift, I am more than halfway to level cap (after just a few days of non-casual playing :P), and I am still very much in love with the game, and actually enjoy logging on to quest or do dungeons with a few friends. I don't try to gain X levels per day, nor am I bored while questing. It is simply fun, and there are many other options to do rather than just quest to be an effective leveler. Another awesome feature of Rift is that you can still get amazing gear (even epics) while leveling through Rift event loot and tokens, which allow you to buy gear from various different level vendors throughout the world. If you're one who enjoys leveling and trying out new characters and builds, Rift is for you.

Spec (soul) Options
WoW has very limited options when it comes to choosing how you want to play your class. Many classes don't even have 3 feasible raid environment or PvP roles due to patches and "nerfs". However, each class has endless feasible options on a per-player basis with the soul setup in Rift. You setup and play your character how you want to - Not look up a cookie-cutter maximum raid performance build on Elitist Jerks. This is great for people who like to theory craft, and constantly make theirselves better. Having the option to spec for 4 different roles is also amazing, as you can have different builds for different fights. Maybe you need a little more surivability as a dps in one fight, and you need to offtank adds in another fight, just change accordingly!

Community
So far I can't really say much positive for the community of either game, other than that on any given server in either game you're going to find a lot of people to play with. The communities of both games are still quite full of arrogant players who think they are superior to every other player on the game. There is still bullying. It will happen in just about any MMO.

Overall I think Rift has a lot going for it. While WoW is more established and will continue to be stronger than WoW in population of players for a while, I do not see Rift overcoming WoW as impossible.