• Support for Win95/98/NT and Macintosh
  
• Multi-player support for as many as 8 players via Battle.Net or IPX network
  
• Unique User IDs and a worldwide ranking system for challenge ladders on Battle.net.
  
• Blizzard's spawning technology that allows up to eight players to compete over Battle.net by installing multiple copies from the original CD-ROM.
  
• Over 100 Blizzard signed and approved maps, newly built or redesigned and balanced for multi-player games.
  
• Automatic map passing over Battle.net
  
• Implementation of Top vs. Bottom multi-player template
  
• Shared Vision in multi-player games
  
• Ability to /Whisper in and out of games
  
• Improved game set-up, game options, dropping of players and inclusion of Battle.net chat
  
• Setting of game speed before the game starts that cannot be switched back and forth during game play.
  
• Incorporation of the 3 Pauses per player / per game rule
  
• Assigning and selection of Groups through # keys
  
• Ability to choose Random starting race, resources and tileset.
  
• Ability to set Latency Tolerance within games
  
• Attack Move command will now function correctly
  
• Patrol command now sends units to the selected location rather than stopping after any contact
  
• Set maps and game parameters for Ladder Games
  
• Scroll Speed fixed on faster computers
  
• Town Hall / Great Hall is required as the first building in your technology tree
  
• Ctrl+click or double-click will select closest 9 units of that type currently on the screen
  
• Space bar centers the map on last 8 transmissions (sequential)
  
• Current food displayed along with gold/oil/lumber
  
• Maintained compatibility with the DOS version of Warcraft II via local area network or modem
  
• Unit limit raised from 600 to 1200 for Enhanced games
  
• Added upper limit of 200 food for each player, like StarCraft
  
• Mining out an oil rig completely no longer returns a small amount of lumber and gold to the player.
  
• Flying Machines, Goblin Zeppelins, Goblin Sappers, Dwarven Demolition Teams now have a Patrol option.
  
• Canceling Foundries no longer uses all of the oil you spent to build it.
  
• Allies can see friendly invisible units now.
  
• Allies' towers and flying units will now reveal enemy subs.
  
• Partially-built towers can no longer see submarines.
  
• Death Coil will no longer damage allies.
  
• New sounds have been added for Skeletons, Runes, Eye of Killrogg, and for completed upgrades.
  
• Death & Decay and Death Coil now have the proper icons
  
• First Town Hall / Great Hall now build at the speed of a Farm. All other Town Halls / Great Halls build at the normal rate.
  
• You can now take 1000 screenshots instead of just 100.
  
• 2 new game speeds (slowest and fastest)

Many of the multi-player features listed are available only when playing against other Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition users.

What are the System Requirements? Will the game still run on my 486?
Since we are updating the game to work with the Windows 95/98 and NT operating systems as well as Battle.net, we are requiring at least a Pentium 60 to play. You will still be able to play against your friends who have the original Warcraft II on their 486.

What is the price of Warcraft II Battle.net Edition?
The game should be available in stores for about $9.95

Does Warcraft Battle.net Edition include the Dark Portal expansion pack?
Yes, all of the single-player missions, new heroes and new tilesets introduced in the expansion set are included in Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition.

Do you have any Warcraft II demos?
No. Sorry.

How many CDs are used for Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition?
Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition is on a single CD.

Can we spawn more than 3 games from one CD?
As with StarCraft, when you install Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition on a system, you will have the option to install a "spawned" copy of the game, which does not require the CD to join multi-player games. A spawned copy uses the same CD key as the parent CD, and it can only join games created by the parent. Spawning works over Battle.net, too!

Are there any upcoming games that are previewed on the CD?
Yes.

Is there map passing as in StarCraft?
Yes. If the other players in the game do not have the map that you've selected, it will be transferred to them when they enter the chat room. A number will appear to the left of their name-- this is the % of the map that has been copied over. You cannot start the game until every player has the map.

Is there Shared Vision?
Yes, we have added shared vision to multi-player games in the Battle.net Edition.

Will 'use cheats' remain an option for play over Battle.net?
No.

Are there new units, new heroes, new tile sets, new music, new cinematic sequences, new AI, new buildings or bigger maps sizes?
No -- Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition is designed to be an upgrade of a classic game. Our goal is to make sure that people can continue to enjoy it in the future as much as they have in the past. By making it compatible with today's advances in operating systems and bringing it onto Battle.net, we hope that people will remember what it was about the world of Warcraft that has kept the game so popular to this day.

Have there been any game play changes or play balance changes made?
While we have made a few minor changes, such as the Lumber bug adjustment and increasing the unit limit per player, we did not make any wholesale game play or play balance changes to Warcraft II.

What are some of the features from StarCraft that I will NOT see?
In that we did not want to change features that we considered fundamental to the game, we did not make changes such as Unit Queuing, the ability to select more than 9 units or setting waypoints. While we have made a host of other changes to make the game easier to control, we felt that these previously mentioned areas would have too great of an impact on the play that people associate and enjoy with Warcraft II.

Are you able to select the resource level of your game?
Yes. You can set the resource level of a game you are starting and the resource levels of that game will be displayed in the in-game chat room interface.

Is there a Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition Ladder?
Yes, we will maintain a competitive, worldwide ranking system and Ladder for Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition.

Is the same ladder system used over Battle.net for Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition as is used for StarCraft?
Yes, however you will need a ranking of 1200 to compete in the Ironman ladder.

What resource setting is used for Battle.net ladder games?
There are two ladders in which Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition players can compete:

LADDER
Players with ten or more wins are eligible to compete in Ladder Games that are open challenges on special Blizzard approved maps. While you have the option to select starting resources, the game speed is preset at "FASTER" and you always start with only one Peon/Peasant.

IRONMAN LADDER
Ladder players who achieve a ranking of 1200 or higher are then eligible to compete in this special Ladder where the competition gets even tougher because the maps are random and you always start with low resources!

Will there be Tournaments and Prizes for the Warcraft II Ladder?
We have no scheduled Tournaments for Warcraft II Battle.net Edition planned. Should we sponsor a Warcraft II Tournament over Battle.net we will make an announcement over our Blizzard.com or Battle.net web sites.

What is the Ladder game speed?
The Ladder game speed is fixed at Faster. Also, as in StarCraft, this speed will not be able to be changed after a game has begun.

Do you still have to destroy all of your opponent's units and buildings for a victory, or do you only need to destroy his buildings, as in StarCraft?
Again, we did not want to change the fundamentals of Warcraft II, so yes; you need to hunt down that last Peon or Peasant to get your well-deserved victory.

Is Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition compatible with the old DOS version when playing in multiplayer games?
Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition and the DOS version of Warcraft II are compatible over Local Area Networks, Modems and through Direct Link games. In these cases, Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition plays as "Classic Warcraft II", meaning that the new command and control features integrated into the Battle.net Edition will not be available. In the case of play across the Battle.net gaming service, Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition only plays against other Warcraft II: Battle.net Editions.

What is different when playing with the DOS version as compared to playing with only people using the Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition?
Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition will play as "Classic Warcraft II", meaning that the new command and control features integrated into the Battle.net Edition will not be available to the person who is using the new version of the game. In the case of people all playing with Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition, they will all have access to the new features.

Is there a feature that allows players to import old settings and saved games from the DOS version?
No.

Was any work done to change the map editor?
Although it would be ideal to be able to make the Warcraft II editor as advanced as the StarCraft Editor, it is simply impossible. We did not make any real changes to the editor.

Are there any new maps? What is the makeup of this collection?
We have created a mix of classic maps that have been reworked to ensure equitable start locations and fairness of play as well as some all-new maps.

Will you have a "map of the week" program for Warcraft II? If you do, how will this effect the current StarCraft map of the week releases?
The StarCraft Map of the Week program has been very well received, however, we will not be creating a Map of the Week program for Warcraft II. We will be releasing Bonus Warcraft II maps in The Dark Portal.

What game types / templates are available in Warcraft II: Battle.net edition?
Free-for-all, Melee, One on One, Top vs. Bottom, Use Map Settings, Ladder, and Ironman Ladder games.

Was any work done on the sound or music in this new edition?
Yes. The original sounds (in game speech, mission briefings, etc) were re-sampled to 16 bit, 22k and the music was re-sampled at 16-bit, 44k. This makes for a much higher quality of sound while eliminating the "crunchiness" often associated with 8-bit recording.

Is there a sound for the Eye of Killrog spell?
Yes, we have done an all-new sound for this spell. In fact, when we went over all the original assets for Warcraft II, we were surprised to see that we had never done one in the first place!

How will Battle.net handle the extra load that Warcraft II and Diablo II will generate?
We are constantly working on improving Battle.net, and we certainly have been putting many hours and resources into the impending launch of both Diablo II and Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition. We are confident that with continued hard work we will be able to meet the demand of our fans over Battle.net.

Do you start with a Town Hall pre-placed as in StarCraft?
No. In Warcraft there are many reasons as to why someone would want to pick their own Town Hall location. Some of these reasons include wanting it to face a certain direction, placing the Town Hall closer to Lumber vs. closer to Gold, and for placing the Town Hall in such a way as to "wall" in Peasants and Peons mining Gold with other buildings such as farms.

What version of DirectX does Warcraft II: Battle.net edition require?
Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition requires DirectX 2.0 and ships with version 6.0 on the CD.

Will you be adding patches to disable hacks if they turn up?
We do plan to support the game through patches by correcting any bugs or game play issues that arise as well as addressing hacks that we can effectively stop.

Have the existing bugs in Warcraft 2 been fixed?
Yes, we took this opportunity to correct many bugs in Warcraft II.

Have you addressed the Lumber Bug?
The "Lumber bug" was a bug in Warcraft II that allowed players to gain extra Gold or Lumber when building a town hall by first clicking on either a Gold mine or wood before building the town hall. The same concept could be repeated when building Lumber Mills to also give players an extra 125 Lumber.

On the Low Resources setting, this significantly changed the game in that it allowed players to build a farm before having to chop Lumber. This bug did not as significantly affect the Medium Resources and High Resource settings. The exploitation of this bug quickly became a part of game play and actually improved the game by allowing Low Resources players to get a quicker start. The Lumber bug has been fixed in Warcraft Battle.net Edition, but to retain the improvement shown by the use of the Lumber bug, games starting with Low Resources will have an additional 100 Lumber. This allows players to build normally without having to remember to "use the Lumber bug", thus making the game fairer for all players.

Is the problem of the game scrolling too fast on higher end systems fixed?
Yes. It is exactly issues such as this that led us to work on this version.

Can I use the Dos Version of Warcraft II to play on Battle.net?
No. To play Warcraft II on Battle.net, you will need Warcraft II Battle.net Edition.

Will there be a patch for Dos version of Warcraft II so that you can play on Battle.net?
No.