To any new player struggling with knockdowns and spike damage in PvE, maybe WvW too, I highly recommend taking a build off metabattle, just give it a websearch. Its not the be all or end all of builds. But some of the open world builds have good descriptions, if you are getting cc'd or spiked down a lot, its partly your playstyle, you can find something more adept to your style, and with more survivability.
For example I am often watching streams or something on my other screen and I get distracted easy, so I needed something that can take a few hits without getting destroyed and so I play a battle scar renegade, does tons of damage, but is quite self sustaining. If you do pay attention but run out of dodges or time them wrong, maybe condition axe mirage, maybe minion necro so you can just face tank everything. There are tons of builds, its a bit of a pain leveling up something again if you are new, but its worth it when you truly enjoy what you are playing.