You need to understand, first off, that this is a pretty violent and conflict-driven world. If you see someone who's a citizen of the Empire coming at you (as in the encounter that was the straw that broke the camel's back for you, if I'm not mistaken) and you haven't sworn the blood oath of allegiance to the Empire, you probably should assume they're there to beat you down, kill you, and/or force you to take that oath.

And that's not so much a distraction from what the game is as it is a large part of what the game is.

There's a kind of person who finds that kind of hostility engaging and wants to rise to that challenge and/or revenge themselves upon the people beating on them, and there's a kind of person that's just discouraged by it, and I don't know that this is a game that will ever really be able to accomodate people in the latter category. PK ranges based on equipment, honestly, would not help you; that you're outgeared by your opponents is a symptom of your difficulty, not its cause.

It's possible to make a character that's very hard to kill; it's also possible to make a character that has less built-in enemies, as well. These are things you can try, if being killed too much is your major obstacle to enjoying the game -- but it's easier, probably, to just try to not take death so seriously or personally, if you can. Get into a cabal, make some (in-game) friends, and really try to learn and improve and in less than the span of a character you'll stop being a punching bag.