I think Luke’s death would have worked if it felt in any way inevitable. I remember watching it for the first time and thinking ‘Oh that’s neat, Luke made an illusion so that he could live’, and then he goes and dies immediately afterwards. Sure, it’s established that Rey would die if she projected herself across the galaxy, but Snoke can do it without breaking a sweat so it just makes Luke canonically no more powerful than Rey and weaker than Snoke, a guy who dies in one of the most embarrassing ways imaginable.
It’s basically my problem with Anakin Skywalker being a “Chosen One”.
We’re constantly told how special Anakin is and how strong he is in the Force but he never does anything out of the ordinary in terms of using the Force. He doesn’t stand out from any other Force wielder who came before.