To me it bought reality to the story did I like it "NO of course". Only in the movies can the good guys never die and shoot a thousand times out of a six shooter without reloading. I believe it was needed just how many times can you cheat death and keep it believable "ok its Star Wars but you know what I mean". I truly think it helped the story and all the ones that followed. Its called life and it made the Star Wars story believable and more human so to speak.

Everyone has the right to their opinion though and while we may not agree we still loved the Star Wars story in general. I always believed it was stupid for Obi-Wan to die in the first one it really served no purpose in my opinion.