upgrades only happen when a flight is overbooked in economy. Then staff have priority over passengers to get upgraded. but if the flight is not overbooked, there are no upgrades.
as for emergency exit seats, free seats and so on... you will be the last ones to get your seats as you ll only be allocated seats after everybody else checked in. which means you have to take what is left. if you are lucky, emergency exit was not taken by a passenger, then you might get it. If you are unlucky only some middle seats are left...