[Sorry if this has already been suggested - so many unsorted threads in this forum already]
I was listening to Paragon Radio, and the villain songs left me with a (perhaps obvious) thought...
Disunity... we need villains to be able to scale up Titan City invasions of their minion of choice, with tough missions getting them step by step to release over days. Eventually the villains will coordinate their syndicate builds, and unleash them together on Titan City... giving the heroes ever-building open zone challenges. Course, the villain groups don't actually help each other, which gives the heroes more options for success through in-fighting :)
Design your minions...
Hints of the invasion / assault building, hinting to heroes when things will come to a head...
Even heroes directly involved in delaying or ruining the action... through instanced missions with minions carrying out the supervillain's orders, but not involving the supervillain yet...
To avoid complete anarchy of storytelling, perhaps the supervillains can pick the McGuffin (object driving the mission), dress the mob, and a few other things, even through choices made in missions would be the ultimate. It would give credence to why the villain didn't get free choice in how things were executed.
Villains could earn access to more McGuffins and mob add-ons through missions too.
Implement your death ray! Pour loads of player ideas into the storylines!
Meanwhile, dev-led GMs and invasions should come first. This could be second :)
[size=14]"The illusion which exalts us is dearer to us than ten thousand truths." - Pushkin[/size]
[size=14] "One piece of flair is all I need." - Sister Silicon[/size]
I just want to be able to Que up a Bank Heist.. with 6 Villains.. and 6 Heroes. :)
Hopefully I don't make my thoughts to complicated on this.
Villain X has decided to rob a bank. First he marks the bank during actual play in zone. If the bank is already tagged in que, he would not be able to tag it again. Then he heads to his base (or another non-SG mission planner) and lays out his plan similar to AE system. His resources for this heist are based on rewards from previous similar missions, NPC faction standing, infamy, and what amount of in-game cash he is willing to invest. He then sets the time for when this heist will take place, lets say not less than 2 days no more than 5. During the days prior, if Villain X has decided to let other villains in on his plan, other villains join along with whatever resources they decide to commit (possible SG only, Friends only, or open call). Also during this time, Villain X can cancel his heist or change his resource commitment.
Meanwhile...
Hero A has been putting a hurting on the local street gang, who happens to hang out near the bank in question. One of the thugs, who is part of Villain X's NPC faction resources, drops a clue about the impending heist (% chance lets say, or possibly Hero A's reputation). Hero A can now go to his base (or another non-SG mission planner), and post his plan to stop this attack. If Hero A discovers the plot soon enough, say shortly after the plan was posted in the red side mission list, Hero A can also recruit more players to help defend this attack. I think in the case of defense, NPC faction assistance should be more limited.
If the attack is eminent, less than 30 minutes, Hero A can issue an alert allowing other players to join in the defense. In this case, the heroes are only allowed a ratio of 1:1 Hero to villain.
During the attack, only the players who have selected to take part in the event will be flagged for PVP in the zone surrounding the heist (lets say one city block). Any players who leave the zone will be dropped from the event and released from PVP with no rewards. Rewards will be given for completing the heist, or successfully defending the bank.
After the event the zone will be locked for 24 hours before another event can be planed at that location.
Heroes could do the same thing, except it would be raids on safehouses, weapon caches, ect.. Villains could come across clues interrogating civvies, or beating up the local PD.
Hope that makes sense.