Lately I have tried a few of the player ran shards to see whats out there and found that most are "not" very good...(Phantoms shard banned my test account after 10 minutes)
Terark shard however set itself appart from most by useing a custom map, many of the custom scripts of RUNUO and totally custom quest. The world was very well done but had some "very" large area that were not populated with anything so the travel time between spots through the woods could be quit a while. They do have a fully functional gate system however so you will most likely not notice.
My favorite part of the shard? The custom new players menu they developed which allows new players (and old) to view a special menu which you will have to see to understand. Outstanding idea on their part and just one of many. They have a nice player base which from what little I have seen of them is very polite and helpful.
How do you try them? Get UO Gateway and search the publish shard list for their name then patch and log in. Their web site is listed on my site at Serpentsmoon.com as well.
Dev
P.S. Still waiting for Syd's to come back online as well