Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal

Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal is an expansion pack to the highly popular game Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, by Blizzard Entertainment. The storyline is recounted in the Invasion of Draenor as well as in the novel Beyond the Dark Portal co-written by Aaron Rosenberg and Christie Golden.

Overview
The gameplay was left almost unaffected, with the exception of the introduction of hero units. The hero units were present in the core game, but played a minor role, while in this expansion they played a large role. The hero have all the upgrades researched and stats superiors to the normal troops, but have the disadventage that if they die, the player loses the mission.

Beside the introduction of the heroes, there were 24 new missions, various new cinematics and nearly 50 multi-player scenarios. The new scenarios are harder than the core game scenarios and even exclude tutorial levels like Tides of Darkness.

New game features include multi-player support for as many as 8 players via Battle.Net or IPX network and shared vision in multi-player games and new tile set of Draenor.

Players also visit new areas in Azeroth, such as Nethergarde Keep, the city of New Stormwind, and the island nation of Kul Tiras.

Story
After destroying the mystic gate into Azeroth, the humans discovered that the rift which allowed the orcs passage into their world still existed. Soon, the remnants of the Bleeding Hollow clan managed to find a way to use this rift to return to their home, and begin planning a new invasion. On Draenor during this time, Ner'zhul - Chieftain of the Shadow Moon clan - has seized control of the Orcish Hordes of Draenor, and began gathering his forces. Driven from his shamanistic ways by the temptation of Kil'jaeden and forsaken by the orcish ancestor spirits, Ner'zhul became jealous, angry, and brooding. When the death knight Teron Gorefiend approached him regarding a plan to open a portal from Draenor to a new world, ripe for conquering, he saw this as an opportunity to finally redeem himself in the eyes of his people.

Ner'zhul commanded Gorefiend to return to Azeroth once more and seek out the Book of Medivh. With this, the former shaman hoped to learn the secret to opening new portals. Gorefiend's army, which included legendary warriors such as Grom Hellscream, Kargath Bladefist, Dentarg, and even the dragon Deathwing, also recovered several other artifacts during their raids, including Eye of Dalaran, Jeweled Scepter of Sargeras, which were to be used to channel the energies needed to open the portal. In addition, Gorefiend retrieved the Skull of Gul'dan, which was being worn by the Bonechewer chieftain, Hurkan Skullsplinter. This turned out to be unnecessary for the portal ritual (despite having a great deal of demonic power trapped within), but was given to Ner'zhul as a gift. The Shadow Moon chieftain took great pleasure in looking upon the last remains of the pupil who had betrayed him.

However, the Alliance quickly recovered from the series of surprise raids in which Gorefiend had accumulated these objects of power. They mounted an expedition led by heroes of various nations, including Alleria Windrunner, Khadgar, Turalyon, Kurdran Wildhammer, and Danath Trollbane, which would follow the orcs through the reopened Dark Portal and stop them from ever returning. There, they found a Horde disorganized and divided, its leader increasingly obsessed with the idea of new portals and new worlds which lay undefended. Some of the clans were even willing to side with the Alliance. While the Expedition worked to defeat scattered but bloodthirsty armies in Hellfire Peninsula, Shadowmoon Valley, Auchindoun, and the Blade's Edge Mountains, Ner'zhul was launching his plan into action.

No longer satisfied with simply opening a portal to a new world for the death knights to rule, he opened a multitude of rifts to the Twisting Nether. The resulting torrent of fel energy that was released shattered the red world of Draenor, transforming it into Outland. Ner'zhul entered one of these portals along with many of his followers, only to encounter the vengeful Kil'jaeden once again. Meanwhile, the Alliance Expedition forces found themselves trapped on the doomed world of Draenor. Before the explosion, Khadgar and his allies made the decision to destroy the Dark Portal there on Draenor. Though this would leave the Alliance Expedition trapped on the alien planet, it was the only way to ensure the safety of the people back on Azeroth.

For additional information, read Beyond the Dark Portal, the book in World of Warcraft.

Sequel
In Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos it is learned that Ner'zhul was intercepted by agents of the Burning Legion and transformed into the Lich King. In Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne it is learned that parts of Draenor survived and is now called Outland. Survivors of the Alliance Expedition appear in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

Trivia

 * The CD-ROM itself, when put into a CD player, will play the many different musical tracks from the game itself. In addition, there is a special track at the end of the disc that incorporates unit voices as well as lyrics to create a rather comical song entitled "I'm A Medieval Man".