Sure* there is a lot of people saying that "...feature X can just be done via someone making a modification on vB.org." and "...just wait for someone to make a mod for it..."
I agree that the vBulletin Modification community - namely vB.org - is brilliant. That is the major advantage that vBulletin has over all the other board software. But why not take it a step further?
There are already some AWESOME mods for 3.X* why doesn't vB Solutions just take those mods* change them around to integrate a little better* update them for 4.X and have all these revolutionary new features. I don't know what is involved in a process like this* nor do I know how it would affect the modding community* but I feel it is a great way to get some innovative features quicker and easier* whilst still providing a great quality outcome.
An example that comes to mind is Live Topic. It is a great idea* why not just take the modification and implement it with vB 4.X?
Obviously* directly taking a modification isn't exactly ethically correct* so why don't just browse vB.org for the most popular and most used modifications for ideas on what to implement? I think it would give an awesome pointer as to what the people want in a real setting* rather than just requests on the vB 4.X Beta.