You guys could just do sorts locally, being save at client. By saving them at client, even personalized sorts would work perfectly, allowing players to manually sort the emotes if they feel like doing this.
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A client-side Emotes Favorites tab would suffice.
I understand where you are coming from with this and I even enjoy roleplaying, myself. However, if they bind emotes to certain expressions it will really become quite a bother to others looking to chat while having some sort of discretion in public (especially when speaking in Linkshells, parties etc.). I have seen it become an issue on other MMOs, which is why I wanted to reply with my own personal experience and opinion.
Although I wouldn't be totally against the idea of them having a 'phrase-bind' toggle on/off option for those who would like to endulge. ^^
This would be a cool idea; not immediately but somewhere down the road. ;)
Thanks for the update!