Well, the complete "Jake saga" so far is: Avatar, 1+2 Rising Son Unity Worlds of Deep Space Nine: Bajor See the Trek Lit forum for a complete list of the DS9-R books. Six others happen concurrently with Rising Son.
I know there are alot of fans of star trek lit, however these stories weren't part of the show. Opaka's job was to set the pieces in place for the arrival of the emissary. She had a vision and knew the moment sisko arrived he was the one. After Sisko's discovery of the celestial temple of the prophets, her work was done. Heck maybe she already had an idea of her destiny through the orb of prophecy. Anyhow with her absence it forces Sisko to go it alone and to learn fully for himself the role that has been bestowed upon him. No matter what happens, new Kai's with different views, other bajorans claiming to be the emissary, provisional governments, vedek's with their own opinions, galatic war, Sisko had to stay the course that was presented to him. Without Opaka there to answer every question for him, and Sisko having to find some answers for himself, it solidified his faith in what he had to do. I don't really know, I'm just guessing but I think the episode was important because of this. I did love the fade to black ending on this one.
These particular stories fall into a subset of Trek Lit called the DS9 Relaunch. True, they're not a part of the show, but they're the next best thing. Whether you choose to acknowledge them or not is up to you, naturally, but you come off as rather more dismissive than is called for here. If they were just isolated stories, as some of Trek Lit tends to be, then your tone would be appropriate. But as an ongoing saga spanning multiple books and introducing multiple original characters, there's a certain....weight? Momentum? I've never been able to pin down quite the right description, but there's something more. Agree with the rest. That part of her role was over, and she had to move aside for events to proceed. It doesn't preclude her from becoming important again later, though.
^I'm sorry, i didn't mean to sound dismissive. In hindsight your right, with what i wrote it does kinda come off that way. i think alot of Star trek Lit is wonderful and i didn't mean to ruffle any feathers. I was just looking at it from the perspective of the show only without any additions to what has happened per the books. My apologies.