What exactly wins the Favor of the Gods?

I looked this up on GW Wiki but didn't quite get it. Maybe I'm just not understanding it right. From what I read, it sounds like you win by an Arena battle at the Hall of Heros, a battle between four teams of gamers. I haven't gotten into the Arena or PvP thing yet, just the PvE story quests and missions.

But someone in the game explained that you win by going in through the Tomb of Primeval Kings and finishing the Hall of Heros part. So does that mean whenever I'm in a party and we beat those Darkness enemies for green items, that's a win towards gaining or keeping the Favor of the Gods for our territory?

If a region wins 5 consecutive wins in Hero's Ascent they get favour.

LOL. The Tomb of Primeval Kings used to be the way players gained access to the Hall of Heroes, deep within the Mists. However, it got overrun by the darknesses. So now, the only access to the Hall of Heroes is through Hero's Ascent at the Battle Isles. There is supposedly a third entrance at the Tombs of Drascir, deep within Charr territory.

The way I understand it, Halls used to be accessed through Tombs of the Primeval Kings until it was overrun by evil and was ruined, hence the name. Then the Zaishen closed down most of the arenas on the Tyrian continent and let people access the Zaishen isles, and now you access halls through Heroes Ascent. Once you win 5 times in Halls, your region gains favor. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.

So you win the Favor by competing and winning against other teams in Arena battles? It's not by going through the 4 levels of the Tombs with a B/P team, farming for golds and greens?

Yes, it's through PVP not PVE.

What if you start the party from international, and the players are mixed up ? Does the party leader's territory count ?

the party leaders original territory determines what territory everyone else is in... if you're in international ^

The idea is simple:
1) Go to Heroes' Ascent
2) Progress through the different competitive maps
3) Reach the Hall of Heros

Whomever wins in the Hall of Heros will either retain the favour of the Gods if their territory currently has it or begin 'earning' it if their territory does not. Five consecutive wins by any team from one terrority will earn the favour of the Gods.

Yeah, it has nothing to do with The Tomb of the Primeval Kings anymore - that was changed a couple of months ago and now all PvP areas have their own island.

Half true. The amount of people from a certain territory determines the territory you're fighting for. If it's 4/4, the partyleader's territory is chosen.

Example:

1: American
2: European <--- turns into partyleader, because there's more europeans
3: European
4: European
5: American
6: American
7: American
8: European

What exactly does favor DO though?

It gives you acces to the Underworld and the Fissure of Woe through the Temple of Ages. Also, I'm still not sure if it's true, but it's said to give better drops when farming when you have the favor.
Another thing: you can do /kneel by any Gods statue to raise the God's messenger there, they trade you special "enchantments" for gold.

Linksys is confused and he's right to be, because of the duality of tombs maps.

Tombs used to be the PvP area of the game, where you would compete other players. At some point, Anet introduced a PvE "version": They used the same maps, added monsters, and there's Tombs as you know them from PvE, with The Darknesses in the final level (Hall of Heroes).

The PvP has "moved" to what is called "Heroes' Ascent". You can reach it by playing in Random Arenas, then in team Arenas, and making a number of wins.The maps are the same as in Tombs, but you play against teams of other players, and you have various objectives.

So, in conclusion: What determines who has the favor, is who wins in the PvP "Hall of Heroes".

Also, Aera is right about a random party's territory. It's the territory of the majority of the party members, not the territory of the party leader. You can even be 3rd or 4th in the party listing, if you have the "majority" you'll appear as the party leader.

Another example :

1. America
2. America
3. America
4. Taiwan
5. Lucky (Europe)
6. Europe
7. Europe
8. Europe

Lucky is only 5th in the party listing, but he will appear as party leader in all screens, i.e. it will be "Lucky's Team (Europe)". If they win HoH, the message appearing will be "Lucky's Team has won a battle blah blah and (keeps/takes/must win etc) the favor of Gods in Europe".

This explains a lot, thanks for the info. I was hesitant to ask at first because it was a little embarrassing since I've been playing GW for over a month already. But I still haven't really gotten into the PvP thing yet.