Its out on the PTS

False.
Quote from Tamat.

Hey everyone!

As you may have noticed, we've release part of the 1.9 update to the PTS as part of an incremental patching strategy. Please pardon the confusion this may have caused! At this time we haven't released the 1.9 update on the PTS. We've released a piece of the update to make the patching process easier for you next week.

Yes. You heard it here first. NEXT WEEK!!!

Incoming: Our massive letter to the community.

if im going to start playing again, should i play on the PTS or regular server -> will the PTS characters save or will they be deleted?

I really really like the PTS because you actually get loot and the asmos control this server.