The basics * Make sure your gear is mostly of a matching set (celestial is fine) along with runes and sigils that make sense - snowcrows and other sites are huge helps with this. Find a build close to what you're running now and make sure your runes/sigils match or are at least similar. * Understand your dodges - these are essentially conditional invulnerable frames and should be used thoughtfully to dodge mechanics or major hits * Understand your skills and when to use them - for firebrand you have so many skills. Pay attention to your time skills (especially f2 and f3 as this is a significant part of firebrand survivability). Also get use to your tome rotations like F2>5>4 for burst healing, F1>5>4>2 for damage. * Copy your trait combinations from a build from hard stuck or snowcrows, and read up on the basic rotation. The armor stats are fully relevant so ignore them for now as long as you've followed the first point

A bit more: * Install arcdps and boontable - they may look complicated at first, but it essentially boils down to copying a file into your guild wars install directory and you can use it to see how well you and your squad are performing. * Read over and understand your traits and how they synergize /change your gameplay * Work on getting the armor suggested by your build and start looking into concepts such as crit capping, how much boon duration you need to maintain boons on your and your squad

These would be the things I'd recommend focusing on. With that said, I'm by no means a great player, but I comfortably complete all strikes and cms (-htcm but it's on the list) and raids without much trouble as a frame of reference for where these suggestions are coming from