I've played off and on since the beginning, and am still a noob. While I have managed to pull off a PK-successful character or two in my life, I'm usually getting my ass handed to me. But as long as I'm having fun and connecting with other players, I'm cool with it and enjoy the game for what it is.

There's a few hardcore players in this game that know how to maximize their effectiveness, know how to hunt, know where to find the preps and never fight unprepared, and they put in a lot of hours to really master all of the secrets of the game. Do I get upset when they kick my ass? Yeah, for a few minutes, then I just regear and pick myself up. Maybe I'll learn something from it. I don't have the time to invest like I used to, so am not going to let it bother me that some people have nothing but time here. If they seem overpowered, maybe I'll try to play my own throwaway copy of their character to learn how they did that and it might make me better next time.

If I'm not feeling like mixing it up, which I really haven't these lasts few years, I'll play stealth classes which will give me more of an advantage in choosing my fights. But that turns into a crutch if you do it exclusively, and can even make you just plain anti-social after awhile since you start to feel like everybody is a threat. That kills the fun for me.

Just keep plugging along, and if you aren't having fun with it, take a break and try again later after you have some fresh ideas.