Ok, let's say I buy the game, without having a previous account. It gives me the Free membership. Now:

1) Wikipedia says that you can upgrade to a premium membership by paying $5, is that $5 payable over the counter in real life game stores, is it a microtransaction, or is it added onto the game price when purchasing it IRL?

2) If it is a Free membership, are there any restrictions compared to the Premium and Legendary memberships?

3) I've played it before on PS3 and enjoyed it, but my bro (who's account we were sharing for it) traded it in. I've read around here, but I'm not sure; is the game still alive? I know that the servers were merged so theres now 1 big pvp and 1 big pve.

Thanks for your time.