RIFT 2.5 and the Road Leading to 3.0

2.5 is right around the corner, and the exact date of its release will be announced this week, in fact.
There will be a larger gap between 2.5 and 2.6 than the gap we’ll see in between 2.4 and 2.5.
Daglar talked a bit about what we’ll see in 2.5. First off, not everything will be accessible the day that 2.5 goes live. The new content will be released in weekly chunks.
Among the new content, we’ll be getting a new sliver, a new dungeon, a couple new chronicles, and a new questline that will introduce the new underwater content. This new underwater content, of course, is one of the preludes to 3.0 and a test run for underwater combat, etc.
The new sliver in 2.5 isn’t a Tier 2 raid. It’s a return to Drowned Halls, and will be a Tier 1 raid that will help newer guilds and players catch up to Tier 2 raids. It won’t be released at the launch of 2.5, and will probably be added a few weeks afterwards.
The huge Warrior changes currently on the PTS will be arriving in 2.5.
Patrons will be getting an increased daily quest cap by 10 daily quests. This will be added in 2.5.
Speaking of 3.0, Daglar also mentioned that we’ll be seeing quite a bit of 3.0 content added to the game before 3.0 actually launches.
At some point before 3.0 most likely, we’ll be seeing a new crafting profession added to RIFT. It will not be restricted to the cash shop, which means everyone will have access for free. Daglar didn’t want to go into details yet.