I don't know if this has been discussed before, so forgive me if I repeat what has already been accepted as the most probable scenario

We know HotE's campaign will probably unfold in the Rebels timeline, and not in the OT timeline.

On the other hand, the HotE announcement article has this to say : "Adventure among the awesome Coruscant cityscape, and face its myriad dangers. Only the bravest rebels dare to operate here, but when it becomes vital to locate an ancient artifact before the Emperor can claim it as his own, you'll set forth on a new, highly replayable campaign of sixteen missions that explore every level of the world, from its glistening halls of power to its grimy underworld alleys."

Can the aforementioned artifact be anything else than the Sith Shrine of Coruscant mentioned in the Tarkin novel? The same Sith Shrine that was going to be the main focus of an unfinished Clone Wars story arc that we never got to see? We know that particular arc would involve around Sidious and Ahsoka competing for the Shrine in Coruscant's Underworld.

I must say that I'll be a very happy Star Wars geek if this proves to be the case. Imperial Assault is a great game, but until now, the stories behind the main campaign and the expansions were pretty generic.

So what do you think? Is HotE's story going to be a big improvement over its predecessors?

PS: Excuse my poor English

I was kind of wondering that too, but given how IA isn't really canon, I'm not sure they'd entangle it in something like that shrine, which could eventually be more enmeshed in canon.

If anything, it might be based on that idea. Maybe there was another shrine, in addition to the one under the Temple?

Yeah I think maybe the designers took inspiration from that idea. But I doubt this story will actually be dealing with the ancient sith shrine under the imperial palace (former jedi temple).

That seems like much to important a topic for LFL to sign off on it being fleshed out in a property as low on the totem-pole of story telling as Imperial Assault.

Gameplay wise I think this artifact will probably be small enough to hold, so a figure can carry around a token that gives them special abilities or something.

I do wonder if (and at what point) the Rebels (or Empire) will retrieve the artifact. And, if like RL says, it might grant some sort of powers to the carrier.

Could make for an interesting finale, though I'm still hoping for Maul to potentially team up with the Rebels to fight Vader and Palpatine.

Ι actually believe the artifact is going to be a holocron. The Clone Wars story arc would come down to a fight between Ahsoka and Sidious for a sith holocron.

What else would Sidious and Maul need from the depths of Coruscant?

Sure, but I don't think we should think of this as a continuation of anything from The Clone Wars or a prequel to Rebels. Think of IA as something that meshes well with canon, but doesn't necessarily fit inside it.

It's kinda like a really cool fan fiction

yes that's the best way to think about it.