I have a 1x11 setup on one of my bikes and like it a lot. I ride mostly smooth surfaces so I thought I was safe from chain drops. After close to 1000 it finally happened in a way that was not easy to resolve on the road without breaking the chain, so I made "the call home". I replaced the generic inner 42t ring with a narrow wide Wolf Tooth and it's been working great. Other options would be a chain saver, running a dummy FD, or installing a clutch RD.

I'm thinking 1x's are the future for a lot of cycling applications.