Beyond anything I could ever have expected of myself, and probably most of you expect of me, I actually started playing WoW, mostly due to a friend's constant talking about the game. I'd say that it's probably the "best" MMO to start on, if only for the huge community and lack of extensive cashshop business that "free" MMOs like to sting you with. It does, though, have its problems. One of the biggest reasons I play is down to IRL friends playing, and being in a guild of personable people. If you don't have that, you're going to find it hard to play past level 10.
As mentioned before in this thread, yes, it IS extremely streamlined and casual, and this works as much for as it does against it. The upshot is that nothing is really a pain in the arse to do, yet the downside is that it destroys any sense of being in a "world", any immersion that you could build up, and makes you realise that it is, in fact, a game and not a world.
As for the addicion factor, I wouldn't worry about it. I'm in no way an addict, I haven't forsaken all my other games for WoW. It's entirely possible to play it, have fun yet not be an addict. The key thing, Jagos, is to not give two goddamned shits about raids and the endgame in general. That's the stuff that gets people addicted, people feeling like they HAVE to hit the level cap asap so they can raid, yet there's no need to raid to have fun.
Personally I draw my fun from just chilling out, chatting to my friends and guildies, running dungeons since I've always wanted to do that sort of thing in a game and not have it be totally boring, and taking in the big, colourful, pretty world (because it is pretty). I like making different race/class combinations and seeing what each has to offer me as a player, some of which are somewhat fun!
If this has changed your mind on WoW a little, there is a 10-day free trial available with a streaming client that lets you download as you play.
As for Rift, I have yet to try that, but the word is that it's an awful lot like WoW with a couple of neat different features. Guild Wars 2 is looking really promising, making a shift to more action-based gameplay, practically eliminating true healer classes and offering new and interesting ways to play, such as dodging enemies via rolling.
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