Hey, welcome back to Norrath. So there are official EQ time-locked progression servers but they're not free and nothing like p99. I don't see any reason to play live unless you prefer to play alone and box multiple characters and don't care about rampant cheating. The emulated servers like p99 or project quarm are the best way to experience the game otherwise.
As for guides the p99 wiki is the most important resource, look up the newbie guide as a good place to start. You can also find some stuff on youtube. You're limited to the one hotbar but there are a number of options for UI skins, the ones listed under both p99 and titanium will work here:
https://www.eqinterface.com/download...&sb=lastupdate