All we're hoping for in 1.1 is that they fix the hosting issues, further reduce the number of minidumps, and enable auto-downloading for Galaxy Forge-made custom maps.
Yes, IMO the rule for patching is:
1) Fix game breaking exploits that affect everyone (not any that I know of now).
2) Try to solve networking/minidump etc crashes that prevent people from playing and ruin games.
3)Balancing the game properly so all sides are as unique as possible without anyone being overly strong (although this and 2 are fairly interchangeable depending on the difficulty, both are important though).
4)Graphical effects.
5) New stuff i.e. ships/techs/planets/etc.
A bug free balanced game is better than a buggy game where everyone just plays one faction, regardless of the number of ships or the shininess of the graphics. Besides, for new ships to be added, first they need to balanced properly (otherwise they will either never be used, or always used, both are bad generally).
Saving new ships for an expansion is preferable (unless for some inexplicable reason they feel like handing them out for free). That way they can focus on balancing the game and making sure the multiplayer is as bug free as possible.