hello vilde,
in fact i have done similar big dist-upgrades in the last days with 800 (KDE) and 1100 (GNOME) included packages without breakage.
Though i wouldn't call applying an "apt-get -f install" an issue i will admit that i had to temporarily remove cups-pdf and manually install a libdbus-1-3 update with "dpkg -i" to be able to continue with the dist-upgrade. No big story and not related to a desktop.
Users easily can drive their system to a state where it is unmaintainable. This applies even for stable systems.
Choosing an alternative desktop will not save you.
Observing a few sensible rules might help to
not break debian systems. (thx piper, for the link and for all your help!)
Dist-upgrade often, read what apt wants to do and take care!
In short: Be interested and open minded.
greetings
musca
PS.: And ask for help early enough.