The "Optional" Soul Hunters Boss
Optional is a strong word for a boss that drops tier and one of the strongest special effect items in the entire Season, which is something the Senior Producer seems to agree with.
George Velev, via But Why Tho?
“In my opinion, if it drops loot, it’s definitely required.” This boss does drop shoulder tier tokens, so I’m sure most raids will go after The Soul Hunters to ensure players get their best-in-slot tier piece.”
Elaborating further, it seems the intent was to let players skip the boss once they felt like its rewards were no longer compelling, which isn't an unreasonable idea - it's the basis of all raid skips (which are also unlocked via Renown, similar to Liberation of Undermine). Most importantly though, players will need to defeat the Soul Hunters in order to achieve Hall of Fame: Dimensius, the All-Devouring, making it very much required for high progression and Race to World First guilds.
George Velev, via But Why Tho?
“We’ve heard feedback that clarity is needed about the full nature of this demon hunter encounter being optional. To avoid confusion as we inch closer to the season’s start, we’d like to make it clear that while you can bypass this encounter once your raid group decides the rewards from it are not compelling to progress to the end of the raid.”
“Completion of the encounter will still be required for the purpose of gaining credit toward Hall of Fame status. We appreciate the feedback from players who have jumped onto the PTR and look forward to an exciting start to the season.”
To be fair, we only fight most bosses because they have loot.
