I've met some people who have "failed" but I don't think I have met anyone who have failed because they used the wrong gear. Some might have changed their plans a bit but that's okay. I think it's most about your mind, if you want to do it you can do it.
In my book it's better to try and fail then not try at all.

Personally I think the HUBB is better now then it used to be a few years back but I fully see your point and you will probably meet the same discussions on the road some day.
When I left for my first big trip on a motorbike (50kkm in Africa) I used a standard BMW R80GS with hard luggage and I used a BMW riding suit, which I still use. If I had done the same today and posted my plans here on the HUBB guess what would have happened....
This trip was maybe the best year of my life.



It handles worse then without luggage.
Weight is always an issue and some bikes carry weight better then others, for me the extra 10 kg has never been an issue. Personally I think deep mud and places with very big rocks are the worst but when I travel I take it slow on these places anyway.

Sure I have been places where I could have traveled faster with a lighter bike but I've never turned around because of the weight of the bike. I have been forced to turn around because of range (water and petrol). Personally I think it's more difficult to increase your range with a soft-setup.
Even if I'm an amateur I would say that I have been to many remote places with my boxes (Graveyard piste, Lake Chad route, northern Namibia, crossing Sahara alone in summertime etc) and hopefully I will visit more places with more or less the same setup.

I think one of the problem with boxes is that there is a lot of crap on the market. People buy expensive flimsy stuff and it brakes and they tell you that all boxes sucks. Even if I don't like sushi I love to eat other types of fish....
20 years ago I traveled a bit with leather-bags and I use some soft-luggage for shorter trips so I'm not saying it's useless. I Simply prefer alu-boxes on longer rides.



Have a nice trip!


Edit: What really makes the handling suffer is a heavy top-box or drybag!