Machinist Help; can't stop dying.

Hey all, as the title says I'm looking for some help for my Machinist woes. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong with this job. I've watched plenty of videos at this point on how to use it, I'm pretty sure I'm executing my skills properly yet I just can't seem to kill any mobs before they eat me alive.

I've struggled my way through to level 52 and currently attempting the job quest for this level but I'm getting thoroughly destroyed by the 2 mobs that spawn before I can down even 1 of them. I can only wildfire burst on one of them before its on CD for 60s and that's not even enough to kill 1.

Is this job supposed to be horrible at leveling or even killing anything? Seems a bit weak since I can just swap over to Red Mage and murder something in 2-3 globals or survive against 7+ mobs on my scholar with just dots. Any suggestions on how to improve this experience would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to have to abandon the Machinist as the job seems fun so far in group content, just absolutely horrendous in any kind of solo content.

MCH has been pretty gutted going from HW to SB pre-70. But your job quests should still be doable. What does your gear look like?

Not looking very good, saving poetics to buy the ironworks gun to help me out as that is my lowest at ilvl 45. Currently wearing the ilevel 90 HQ gear you get from the Machinist level 50 quest on the left side and 110's on the right side except a 90 ring.

Upgrading your gear will help a lot, imo. Especially if you put in the extra poetics to get the i130 weapon. Right now your weapon is definitely holding you back. The HQ i90 may be okay, but I would still recommend getting as much i120 left side as you can, because it will last you until ~57.

The weapon is really holding you back. Between iLv45 and iLv120 is a difference of 22 weapon damage. This is huge: a 69% difference. Weapon damage is the biggest contributor to your outgoing numbers, so definitely prioritize upgrading that slot first.