As a fellow stubborn bow/NB user, you'll probably struggle at lower levels in PvP. You don't have great armor, or healing, or DPS, or even good escape tactics, compared to other classes. Or, don't be surprised if you do, anyhow.

But to answer your question, they can be good for single target burst damage. I'd personally stay away from AoE, and stick to lots of Snipe and Poison Arrow. Try to get your weapon damage way up and always get the first shot from stealth.

Using a bow as a Nightblade is perfectly viable. You might not stand much of a chance in one-on-one at your level against those high veteran players, though you can certainly do some serious damage and cause a ruckus.

I use Poison Arrow, Siphon Health and the Lethal Arrow morph of Snipe. You also have some great, and much appreciated utility; Piercing Mark (Mark Target) and Crippling Grasp (Cripple)

Toy around with some of those single target abilities, Snipe from stealth and stay in the shadows whenever you can. Bows shine while defending keeps and resources.

Volley is an awful AOE. its slow, and does Damage over time, IF enemies are standing in the radius. You would be far off better to use the single target abilities. arrow spray is also nto very good. scatter shot is much better in my opinion.

For a bow user that is VR1, this is my suggestion. It got me from VR1 to VR7 with a LOT of laughs along the way. I'm VR12 now and while I did some grinding to get from 7 to 12, most of my time was in Cyrodiil in the early stages. Loved every minute of it!

Lethal arrow (morph) is good, at least that's what I've found. It's great as an opener in stealth and it reduces the amount of healing that your target can muster up, its funny to watch your target try to heal themselves then realise that than are healing at 50% less then normal. As the first big opener is flying through the air, you can pretty much fire off a venom arrow which then stuns the target and they will both hit at about the same time, you can then use mark target during the stun, and then a bow heavy attack to finish them off. If they aren't dead straight away, then another venom followed by a heavy. Using damage pots will help bring your target down faster too, and of course the bow and enchants you have on. For those that are vamps and WW, using the fighters guild skill of camo hunter makes a big opener in quite a few cases a one shot BOOM! proposition. I've had many tells from my victims expressing their disgust in a colourful manner of being 1 shot.

Many lols to be had. BUT be wary, if you get spotted by say a DK you will get munched at close quarters. With one whole bar being bow centric you won't have a lot of ability spots left open to keep you alive.

Get your weapon crit % up and your weapon damage, 7 medium would be my recommendation for the buffs that work with bow, and using a set like hundigs rage with the extra weapon damage wont go astray either at VR1.

Just don't take on the big guys you see running around, VR12's are still probably something you want to avoid.

Good luck and happy hunting.