Ninja has great damage potential, you just have to get your Rogue to 30.

Mug & Jugulate: off GCD, weave them in.
Trick Attack: 10% damage bonus
Ninjutsu: solid damage, single and AoE
Mutilate and Shadow Fang: Dots
Huton: 15% attack speed bonus
Kassatsu: guaranteed Ninjustsu Crit
Dancing Edge: slash damage bonus
..and make sure you always have one of your poisons active


As for survival, it's less dependent on position than Dragoon or Pugilist so you can actually move more freely. You might be less tough than an armored DRG, but than the solution to that problem is just don't get hit ;-)