The only Guardians stuff I've ever read are the MPC 24 & 26 collections so Yondu's the only character I actually know from the pages, which is probably why I disliked what he became.

I know of Starlord, Rocket & Groot from all the hype over the last few years but never actually read anything with them in, but yeah, nothing would have been lost for me if Rocket wasn't in the film at all.