And yes with some serious enemy Caster throwing a lot of stuff at you, you get some problems without evasion, because youre hit points are not that high.
As both Dragonslie and I have pointed out
evasion became less useful when rogues got D8's instead of D6's and spells stayed at the base damage.
d8 vs. d10 is only 1 HP less per level and rogues have good reflex saves and usually higher dex than a fighers and other classes with d10 HD.
Enemy Caster throwing a stuff at you is not nice but it's no big deal unless they spam you with it. If they do you got a TPK anyway unless you used resist energy etc.
Bards have d8 HD and they don't have evasion. My bard is level 11 now and she ain't dead yet. I've even played a 3.x rogus with heavy armor (heavy armor = no evasion) and it didn't die.
Evasion isn't bad, but it isn't is a big thing actually.
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Evasion is one of those things that looks great on the surface. No damage on a save? Half damage on a failed when I get Improved Evasion? Sweet! For those people who think wizards should be throwing fireballs, it is a solid ability. They have the flavor of blaster wizards and nimble evading rogues.
For those who actually look at what happens, it becomes obvious that HP doesn't actually go away that fast when evocations are used. So while avoiding that damage when it shows up is a nice perk, it's also an entirely passive ability. What good is Evasion when none of the enemies throw a fireball at you? What it's always cloudkill and grease effects? Better to trade out that minor ability for one YOU choose when to use, not the enemy.
It ties in with knowing what kind of game you are playing in is all.