How hard would it be to add a quick reply box with icons? I've seen other forums that use this same software that have them, and they are really convenient: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
The usage of Icons uses AJAX which isn't difficult to implement to my knowledge, however I couldn't tell you if VBulletin uses it as stock or whether it requires a plugin/addon, if that's the case the concern my be that either it's using third-party coding or a concern about keeping things updated (since it could break do to poor maintenance of updates).