I would choose the Droid DNA over the HTC One in a direct competition tomorrow. Sense 5 will come to the DNA this summer, I am confident. And the soft touch back/red accents are amazing vs. the aluminum feel. The DNA is just a sexy ass telephone.
As far as rooting is concerned: I used to root on my OG Droid phones, but only for overclocking and custom launchers (also free apps I suppose). With the DNA, the phone is so damn fast overclocking would be marginal, the launcher is perfectly fine to me (no lagging issues, looks pretty nice). Coming from a tinkerer, I simply do not see the need to root on a modern phone like the DNA. Besides... ain't nobody got time for that! I am too busy trying to finish a Master's degree and get PAID. But that's a whole nother story...