The first in-game tracks for both Humans and Orcs are new with the expansion CD .

Humans 6:

https://youtu.be/nKHQB1CLowE?t=1295

Orcs 6:

https://youtu.be/nKHQB1CLowE?t=2685

Despite being names Humans 6 and Orcs 6, those tracks play first in the game before the vanilla Warcraft II soundtrack begins.

The Battle.net version of Warcraft II doesn't simply have whole tracks removed from the soundtrack, but has the in-game tracks edited to fade them out part-way, so that the tracks are shorter in length.

I am kinda bummed that GOG chose the Battle.net edition to repackage, it's gonna be the main version we'll see streaming on youtube etc on from its release, because of the ease of setup, online play, and QoL improvements. GOG has always been in the interest of making old games accessible and easy for the consumers and not focused on actual archival and preserving the authenticity of old games unfortunately. I would buy more games if they included the original CD in BIN/CUE format, preserving any redbook audio and PDF scans of original manuals, but for most games in their collection, it's always more focused on getting whatever is need for the game to run out of the box.

OP, I think the reduced tracks and lower quality is because it is consistent with what was released on the actual Battle.net Edition CD. Changing the tracks to the original War2 CD versions would make it different from what was released originally and to be honest, the repackaged is hardly a remaster or enhanced version at all, it just runs out of the box, so they would not bother with it.

For new players looking for the authentic feel and music of Warcraft 2, I would recommend getting DOSbox and the original discs or images, it is not hard to setup, try out the Sound Blaster music too instead of CD Audio. It's all about the original feel some of us are missing, Battle.net edition has the better QoL improvements for online play no doubt, but IMO the original DOS version is also worth preserving.

It just kinda sucks because there are many sites out there for DOS games and they do a better job at archiving the old versions than the selective and limited titles on GOG. It's also harder to find proper BIN/CUE images of CDs as the years pass and you lose your physical CDs.

TLDR: DOS version of Warcraft 2 is worth preserving for authenticity but you need to find it elsewhere.

the length difference is because the music doesnt loop, and the quailty difference is being slightly exagerated

You're right, my apologies, I was going off of the date from the last comment in the thread and not the start of the date.

The original redbook audio from the DOS version was lossless and in a 44KHz format, but the battle.net edition is confirmed by myself to be not only in a 22KHz format, but stored in lossy compression format. My fix mentioned above fixes both of these and has the original length audio. (The full length audio isn't something I really care about too much, but eh, its there as part of the restoration process anyway.)

I will take a look into the sound effects and cinematics being of a lower quality on this battle.net release as well, but my gut feeling is that those are going to be the same or higher quality, but i'll let you know for sure.

Also, if anyone is interested, I also did a restoration project where I restored the original music as would have been heard through MIDI on cards like the Sound Blaster 16 (or any card using a true OPL3 chip). You can find that here: https://www.gog.com/forum/warcraft_ii_battlenet_edition/warcraft_ii_opl3_midi_music_replacement_sound_blaster_16_and_the_like

As for the sound effects, I have discovered that they are of a higher quality in the Battle.net edition. I could have sworn I had read this being a feature when the battle.net edition first came out but I can't find any documentation to back me up, but all the same its nice to know for sure with some testing and comparison that this is truly the case. The battle.net sound effect files are 22KHz, 16-bit files stored in a lossy compression, while the old DOS version sound effects are 11KHz, 8-bit files. After listening to the same sounds from both versions, the Battle.net sounds are the clear winner because they had less white-noise that can be heard in the background when the sound effect plays.

120% correct. You should have started the whole thread with this point. 90% of the 'who cares' people wouldn't have been so snide.

The Warcraft community has spent decades ironing out the last official release. It's absolutely ridiculous for GoG to release a crappy version from 25 years ago.

I'm also particularly irritated that they didn't use the Belzebub version of Diablo. It's high resolution. It has entire parts of the game that Blizzard cut, A stash chest. All of the original missions added back in. The Hellfire character types. Literally the perfect Diablo. So what do we get? The DosBox version.

Here's what I predict. I predict a remastered Warcraft II being released for the 25th anniversary. Possibly a remastered Daiblo. They're already offering a remastered StarCraft/BW for $25. The fact that they won't let GoG offer the good versions that the community has built, or even add the superior music to the GoG release is a solid clue.