I am looking for a new game and these are the two I am interested in. I enjoy both pve and pvp. I don't care about the useless stuff like dimensions, pet battles etc.

Which one is more fun at the moment?

Rift by a mile.  Much more control over your skill sets.  You can mix and match with 3 types of skill sets, Say you make a Mage you can mix Fire, Ice and say Necro.   There are 8 types to choice from so your builds are endless as far as what you want to make that fits you play style.  You get 1 skill to lvl up everytime you lvl up and 2 for every 3 time you lvl up.  Not like wow where its every 3 lvls and your stuck with one play style.  The people there are much more helpfull in Rift then in Wow where if you ask a ? you can get a answer and not get drama overload like Wow.  I personally like the Questing and the Rifts are alot of fun.  Graphics blow Wow out of the water. 

Rift by a mile cannot say more then that :)

Originally posted by Mellowicious

I have only played rift beta and wow trial, so I don't know much about their endgame content. Anyway I am looking for a new game and these are the two I am interested in. I enjoy both pve and pvp. I don't care about the useless stuff like dimensions, pet battles etc.

Which one is more fun at the moment?

I would say, retry both and then pick.

I personally prefer WoW though for its artstyle, its lore, its storylines, its classes even if they are not flexible like the ones in Rift, and the world environment. The combat is funner in WoW too, and the dungeons are more interesting.

Rift has housing though, which is a really nice option for when you do not want to be fighting something. To me, being able to decorate my own house is a really nice option to have.

Originally posted by ShakyMo
They're basicly the same game.

Wow has more content, and more fluff fun features

Rift is less kiddy and has some non instanced endgame pve, and is a bit easier to group.

Both are raidgrinders first and foremost.
 

Again as reflected in above posts, it's back and forth. I dont play rift and wow anylonger, but I know what both games has to offer. Wow does not have more content than Rift, you'd be surprised to see how much Rift really has - especially planar attunement which is a way of progressing your char beyond max level by using gained experience in "combat" trees.

If you're a tad more into PvP I would suggest WoW, simply because of Arena (though some like small scale, others like big). I feel RIft's progression in PvP is meaningless where it's all about how much time you put in to gain ranks to buy x gear, same story all over with lack of true achievement (again: wow arena with ladders/ranks based on win ratio). If you're into fancy combat animations then RIft falls short again, sadly (while Rift shines on other stuff, such as complexity in figthing styles). Both games are raid orientated yes, while RIft also has chrinicles which let you 1 man raid content, so that everyone at least get to see the fluff stuff (unlike in wow).

As OP said, the original rift beta is drastically different than in storm legion, it is a new game in many ways. Youtube is your friend, find the right channels that can sell you either game from the latest expansion.

Pretty easy differnce:

Wow : leveling now is a joke you rush to max very quickly and raid.  Easy to get raids end game you will pick up or queue.

Rift: leveling is still time consuming (unless those dam events in the citys are still active then its even a larger joke than wow) end game raids are more guild based.

Rift game is kinda empty , wow isn't as much.

Neither have pvp in open world anymore (not really).

You really couldn't have picked 2 more similar games to choose from.  If you like one, chances are you'll like the other.  I'll do a very quick breakdown below according to my experiences, but bear in mind I'm 2 expansions removed from WoW now and also haven't played Rift in over a year.  So take everything I have to say with a grain of salt. 

Things that feel extremely similar:

• Raiding and dungeons. 
• Instanced battlegroundesque pvp. 
• Combat. 
• The games look extremely similar; (you could totally watch a stream of Rift for a few minutes and think you're watching WoW if you're not an avid player of one game or the other.)  Rift has better graphics, but the UI, art design, animations and spell effects are very similar.
• Quest hub leveling

• Rift, of course, has rifts.  These provide a change of pace during the questing experience, but are unfortunately very monotonous themselves.
• WoW has extreme phasing, which can create a more real illusion of your permanent effect on the quest world and can give quests a stronger zone-wide story progression, but at the expense of segregating player population.  From my understanding the new zone merge system in WoW can also make it difficult to make new friends or continue playing with friends you make in the world.
• Rift has the new Dimensions housing system, which looks AWESOME.
• WoW has pokemon, which looks AWESOME.
• Rift has one of the more diverse class systems out there.
• WoW's classes and specs are tried, tested and refined, though I have no idea what the verdict is on the new talents.   

Eat pie from the tip or eat pie from the crust?

WoW still has a sizable population that's active in pve and pvp content. RIFT's merges make it more lively. Both offer something. I'd say try RIFT first for a few months, get bored then go to WoW. Get bored.. Play Pirate101. ;)

Originally posted by 3-4thElf

Eat pie from the tip or eat pie from the crust?

WoW still has a sizable population that's active in pve and pvp content. RIFT's merges make it more lively. Both offer something. I'd say try RIFT first for a few months, get bored then go to WoW. Get bored.. Play Pirate101. ;)

i like p101. its pretty good, id enjoy it more if i could effect how my chanrater play more tho (like w101)

Originally posted by Jetrpg

Originally posted by 3-4thElf

Eat pie from the tip or eat pie from the crust?

WoW still has a sizable population that's active in pve and pvp content. RIFT's merges make it more lively. Both offer something. I'd say try RIFT first for a few months, get bored then go to WoW. Get bored.. Play Pirate101. ;)

i like p101. its pretty good, id enjoy it more if i could effect how my chanrater play more tho (like w101)

Agreed. I guess Companion sorting and it's multi-class elements is where the depth comes in to play. You got to think of it as you're in charge of the entire crew. That's a touch off topic tho'. LoL

I'd like to see more games attempt multiclassing tho', that's one thing RIFT has in it's favor. I don't think it's a very deep system at all considering how many skills between the game's classes are completely interchangable. But if someone took the time to combine unique soul types you can avoid redundancy. 

I hated the pacing of FFXI, but I do miss it's multi-class system.