Yeah I basically did the same thing. Got the itch about 7 months ago. Managed to get my original UO account back (you can open a support ticket and they'll ask for info regarding the original, it was pretty painless) and messed around on Atlantic, the only really populated server. It's just meh. They added so many stats to weapons it's overwhelming and most are garbage. It's so obnoxious having to look over each item to see if it's worth anything. Also the classic and enhanced clients suck pretty bad.

Outlands is definitely the most polished and unique free shard. Check out their wiki, it goes over skill changes and lists some templates for starting out. Their custom ClassicUO client is excellent and has Razor built in. The one thing that may turn you off is it's mostly open PVP once you leave Shelter Island. There is a sanctuary dungeon that rotates each week that doesn't allow murderers in but it has reduced XP and gold.