I decided log onto my account last night after years of not playing.
I saw the RS3 was in beta so I logged in and did the tutorial in the RS3 beta (There were customizable tabs so I am pretty sure I was playing beta)
I played for an hour or so and called it quits, and when I tried logging in today it took me to RS2 (I think…?).
So I logged out and tried to click the beta link and it said beta applications were closed which makes me question if I was really playing RS3 beta last night..
Also when I logged in today it was extremely laggy and back in the old interface.

Here are my questions:

Why was I able to play beta yesterday but today it says applications are closed?
Why is RS2 so laggy?…I have a high end gaming rig I just built. If you want specs I can give but being a desktop game I am 100% positive RS should run smooth on high settings.
When is RS3 coming out of Beta to play permanently and is there any major changes besides the HTML5 change and customizable tabs?

There are two betas: the HTML5 beta and the New Interface System (NIS) beta. The ability to play the betas is account specific. Atm you will only be able to access the New Interface System (NIS) as this is currently open to all members, whilst the HTML5 beta is only open for premium and gold members (bought some months back in a special promotion) and those that applied for beta access. So, you should be able to access the NIS beta only on the account that has membership.

I’m not sure why RS is laggy for you. There have been disconnections going on this week and last week though… You could check out these threads though:

Connection Issues & Lag
Framerate/Performance Issues

RuneScape 2007 Gold is coming to the live game on 22nd July. For more info on this, check out this thread: RS3 Launches 22nd July

There is also a big banner with a count down timer on the home page for this