Instance portal
From WoWWiki
An instance portal is the sparkling field that marks the entrance to an instance.
The color of the portal indicates the type of instance:
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Blue Instance Portal: Group (5 or less, Blackrock Spire is an exception)
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Green Instance Portal: Raid (10 or more, on a raid reset timer)
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Red Instance Portal: PvP Battlezone (battleground). These portals are no longer functional with the addition of battlemasters at the entrances.
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White Instance Portal: Transit. In the world pre-The Burning Crusade, the only such portals are at the ends of the Deeprun Tram and for the officer's lounges in Stormwind City and Orgrimmar for players of rank 6 and up. Patch 2.0, in addition to removing the rank requirements for those portals, adds at least one more: the portal used to enter the Ghostlands from the Eastern Plaguelands (requires expansion).
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Purple Instance Portal: All instances in Outland and Caverns of Time are this color. Indicates that the instance has a Heroic mode available.
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Skull with Purple Instance Portal: Notifies the player that the instance is on Heroic mode. Only available to Outland dungeons and the Caverns of Time in Tanaris as of the release of the Burning Crusade.

