GIMP 2.8.4 has been released yesterday, bringing some important bug fixes. This is the stable GIMP branch and no new features will be added in the 2.8.x releases, only bug fixes.
Here are the most important changes in GIMP 2.8.4:
Better names for the default filters in save and export
Make tool drawing (esp. the brush outline) much more responsive
Remember the "maximized" state across sessions
Simplify the splash image code a lot, makes it appear immediately again
Allow the text tool to start on an image without layers
Various fixes for text style attribute handling
Set unconfigured input devices to eraser