Same experience here except I play as a Ranger Hunter, so I personally do not understand where such statements come from either.
My Drow Ranger with a shield (20AC currently) at level 6 on Tactician difficulty very rarely gets hit, while dealing around 50 damage per turn easily with her dual-crossbows. All "major" battles have been a breeze to go through since she hits like a truck and dodges attacks like they're nothing, so I just park her between an entire group of enemies and watch the misses fly as I unload crossbows all around, despite the increase in enemy's hit chance and HP pools.
