Questions about the original Guild Wars?

Question

What does it mean when a country wins the favor of the gods? What is the hall of heros?
What is the Rift?
What happens when you make it to the end of the Rift?
How does a player make it into the Hall of Heroes?
What happens if you win a GvG?
What is Hero's Ascent?

Answer 1

Favor of the gods is basically what controls access to the Fissure of Woe and the Underworld from the Temple of Ages. It also activates the various shrines in explorable areas.

It used to be that various regions competed for favor. If a European team won in the Hall of Heroes for 5 games in a row then Europe had the favor of the gods, but Arenanet recently changed all that and made favor based on titles instead.

I have no clue what the Rift is. I haven't heard that term ingame.

The Hall of Heroes is the pinnacle of Hero's Ascent. It takes a lot of skill and time to learn how to compete well in Hero's Ascent. If you are completely unfamiliar with the PvP environment, I'd suggest starting with Alliance Battles. They are easier and you can get some experience battling other players. From there move on to Random arenas and Team arenas in the Battle Isles.