Seems like an opportunity to inject some fun and crazy stuff into the random side of this game. I guess key wardens kind of fill this role in terms of a tough monster.
Have they spoken on this topic of the role of unique monsters?
I was thinking that rares should have a higher (almost 100%) chance of dropping Demonic Essences. At least with NV5. You can't really "farm" them like elites or whatever, but this way these nowadays boring mobs would at least add something to the table. Higher chance of legendary would be nice, too, but it's difficult to feel the difference between a 0.1% drop chance and a 1% drop chance for a single rare encounter; even though it's 10 times higher, you still won't get a legendary in 99 of 100 kills (on average) ;-)
Have they spoken on this topic of the role of unique monsters?
When I see one I just treat it like a regular white monster...nothing special. The champion packs and rare monsters are more of a mini-boss encounter.
I haven't seen anything where Blizz has talked about the unique monster role. It would be interesting to hear what they would say about them.
My BNet Profile
http://www.diablofans.com/topic/80969-suggestion-for-purple-mobs/page__p__1097660#entry1097660
nothing happened, though
http://eu.battle.net/d3/en/profile/Sol77-2972/hero/66110450