Guild Wars 2

Hey, hi, hello forums. Newbie here. I recently picked up GW2 after suffering the post-release downhill situation with SWTOR. I found some pleasure playing a Scoundrel and its energy mechanic there so I decided to carry over my interest to GW2. I don’t mind PvE, but I find it to be a more of a means to an end than a preference, so I was excited to know that I could level using WvW. And while I’m admittedly only on the cusp of hitting level 9 with my thief (casual player right now, unfortunately) and I understand that there are some power scaling issues with not having all my utilities/traits unlocked, I’m finding the situation a little bit disappointing and I’m looking for some advice.

I’ve mostly been trying to use a Shortbow to stay at range, but I’m so painfully squishy that I feel like I’m trying to disengage with my weapon skill 5 and cover my trail with 2 and 4 more than I’m contributing to the fight. I understand that you’re supposed to be able to pick up loot from finishing off enemies, but I feel too squishy to engage and finish them off and I’m not getting much in the way of XP because I’m only able to chip at enemies’ health before disengaging. My health is only at a measly ~14.2k. I usually try to use my utility skill to poison my enemies with a few auto attacks as well.

Am I missing something? Is there something I should be doing with my gear (which isn’t substantial, to say the least)? Or is it mostly an uphill battle when it comes to contributing at such a low level?