Yes it is, but this article highlights what an achievement it is that webpack is possible at all. I think Bracha would gladly struggle through some config if that was all that stood between him and his holy grail of liveness.

Plus webpack got a lot better even in that regard, and there's alternatives like Parcel pushing the curve. Web devs sometimes don't realize how good they have it :-)

Perhaps, but you’d get similarly unsatisfactory reviews from any technology before you have learned how to use it. Criticism of how difficult it is to learn a technology is valid, but it’s not a valid criticism to say that a technology is not working well before you have learned how to use it.