Sell me on a private server

With Blizzard being the way it is these days and the shitstorm heat death of retail and classic WoW I am looking to give WoW one last chance. I have never played on a private server before but I have played Classic and Retail on and off for the last 15 years. My favorite xpacs are Vanilla, TBC, and WoTLK. I am looking for either a true-to-form "blizz-like" server in any of these xpacs or an extremely progressive server with new content made by a community that actually gives a shit. The only thing I care about other than that is a decent population size where I won't feel lonely leveling in the open world. With that being said I want to hear what the players think without all the youtube and social media bias. Thanks in advance.