Yes, if that had been the end of Byakuya there a lot would have been missed out. Not to mention they might have been a little more difficult on Ichigo for killing a captain. They are working with Ichigo now, so it would have been harder to do so knowing that you are working with someone that killed one of your own.

But Ichigo is also has that bit of honor in him, not a lot. He does street fight a lot, so honor really does not enter into a street fight. But he is not about to kill someone so quickly as through the throat even though it would have been easier. He did interrupt Renji while he was talking and frequently comments to those that fights that while he was distracted they could have been coming at him. Though the shinigami typically have an honorable approach to fighting unlike Ichigo. They fight one on one usually and respect the other enough to not attack while they are not focused, i.e. yelling at Rukia or talking to Uryu and Orihime. I think the other part of it was that Ichigo wanted to test is strength against Byakuya and not have a quick easy fight like it could have been.

Though I would agree that it would be nice to see something different out of them. But they do make the final attacks look very pretty. I've only seen two of them and maybe a little of the Bount, but I really have not seen the Byakuya or Bount fight, just clips on youtube. But still I'd have to say that Ichigo and Kenpachi's power up for the final attack was certain the best. Though during the whole fight once Ichigo was Kenpachi's equal Kenpachi constantly was increasing his strength. It all looked very cool. And then it was all released when he removed the eye patch. There was nothing cooler than watching the power skyrocket into massive pillars of energy and they end up destroying the entire surround area.

I'm currently listening to the music from all of the Bleach openers. I understand that the seventh opener is going to make its appearance soon. I can't wait to see what they are going to be doing for it. The Heuco Mondo arc is coming to close eventually right? They have to go travel to where Aizen is stay so the Karakura part of the arc is going to come to an end soon, right? Then the real Heuco Mondo arc begins.