[Ussop]Aarrrrrrrgh, my "wall of text" disease is acting up![/Ussop]
First of all, your suggestion would be impossible to implement without redesigning the whole Mission Architect process. And given what you're trying to accomplish, it sounds more like you'd rather have separate storage for arcs and custom mobs anyway (as noted in your final line), which is probably possible but still improbable and not really necessary.
Second, I'd like to bring your attention to some information gained during HeroCon last month: the space per MA arc will soon be increasing to at least double the 100K they currently give us. To my knowledge, there's no word on whether we'll be able to include more than 5 missions per arc, but that means we'll be able to include more custom NPCs per arc easily. (It could also be paving the way for eventual customization of custom NPC powersets, but that's just my own speculation).
Third, you are no longer limited to just having three arcs per character. You can purchase up to five more storyarc slots for a total of 8 player-controlled slots. This does also does not include slots that are freed up by achieving a Dev's Choice or Hall of Fame award.
Finally, before someone like the infamous Venture comes in and says it less politely... if you really feel the need to pump THAT MANY custom NPCs into an arc, you should re-evaluate what you're trying to accomplish with that arc. If you just want a place to showcase and beat up all your custom critters, that's great, but don't expect other players to be thrilled with the mission even if you are. To keep other players excited and interested in your arcs, you should always try to give a reason why the enemies are there and why you need to defeat them.
And of course, visit the Mission Architect section of the forums and read some guides about building balanced custom groups and enemies, and test your creations as many times and with as many alts and varied teammates as you can. 
Main Hero: Chad Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1396 Badges
Main Villain: Evil Gulzow-Man (Victory) 50, 1193 Badges
Mission Architect arcs: Doctor Brainstorm's An Experiment Gone Awry, Arc ID 2093
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Originally Posted by Nethergoat
it's NEVER too late to pad your /ignore list!
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Thanks Chad for all of this insight. I'm excited most that they are boosting our memory storage which as you said, should alleviate the problem. Actually, I've been working on a story that I don't want to share at this moment but it would probably take at least 8-10 missions to give it justice. The rest would be as you said a place to show off my creations and beat the stuffing out of them. I also want to make each mission progessively more difficult to accomplish. The last arc would only be for the heartiest of heroes/villains. You said that news came out of HeroCon but did they say when it would be implemented? My guess is either as part of Rogue or more likely at some later date but like I said that's just a guess.
I have an idea that I think the devs may be willing to implement that would give us more room for custom characters in AE. I want to build the ultimate story arc using all three of my slots. The idea I have in mind would take much more memory than is currently allotted to each player. That is, it would take much more memory the way that said memory is currently allotted to the players. What if custom characters that are used in more than one story arc slot are only charged to the first arc slot that they were used in? In successive arcs they would be treated just like CoH created characters because they are already stored on the servers. That way each story arc slot could add upon the previous one's base. By the time you arrived at the 3rd arc slot it could be jam-packed with all sorts of original characters. It wouldn't take up any more room than is already allotted to the player. It would just require a new way of storing that memory. Another way that this could be achieved is to allow us a certain amount of memory to create these characters that is separate from the arcs themselves.