Trion did a damn Good job with this game.
I don't know about slaying wow in every way, as it owes a lot to wow, but it is Very good. Def one of the best mmos ever released out of the gate, not opinion it's a fact.. if you've been a wow player for the last 5 years ( i have not, i only last maybe 6 months in any game, and maybe come back for 2 or 3 for and expansion if that but i just follow the genre, i can't waste my entire life in a game) i'm more into the design and checking out the innovation of game play, graphics and such.
i thought conan would be the game that made me stick but they failed hard on that, tho it has the best combat in an mmo.
rift is a solid game and is fun, i was pretty surprised in the beta how into it i was. the graphics are not totally cutting edge but they ain't bad at all, not to sound that they are just ok, they are far better than just ok. the characters and world modeling is much better in game than it seemed in all the dev and beta screenshots.
if you like a well done mmo such as wow i cannot see why you would not like rift, unless your tired of mmos - which i think is what all the complainers and wow comparers are, just tired of mmos and should get a new hobby instead of bitching all the time.
worth the money to play it even if it's just for a few months, most games are half assed, this one is not - they have set a new standard in polish in a fresh release that i think mmo's from now on will be compared to at launch, and they should be. time for companies to step up and stop releasing buggy fucked up beta's and calling them gold.