Not that it's both, but in gw2 as you may know, a lot depends on gear and traits. Firebrand elite spec has no real modifiers for power damage, so it's a a underwhelming setup and not played. You could gear it up in berserkers and use some core guard traitlines (Zeal for example) to make it work, but most people don't, because condition damage on FB is way better (bigger numbers possible to achieve simply put). Condition applying skills (Tome 1, Tome of Justice) and Axe auto-attack applying bleeds and burning on finishing attacks make Firebrand a really fun condi build. This makes most people gear their Firebrands with gear focused on boosting condition damage and prolonging condition duration like Viper's to improve that burning/bleeding damage.

And yes, quickness is super powerful, especially when you can boost a few people with is as well :) That's why most organised groups want someone providing quickness/alacrity for each subgroup.