at today you have Part Library which can make connections and place them in a patterns using those #!?/#$% user defined features. once the pattern is placed it is terrible to make changes to it.
On the other hand there is the basic pattern command which can be used for positioning features and parts and it is easy to modify the pattern afterward, but it does not create connections.
both of them are great to work with individualy, but they do not work together. Strange if you think that patterns are available for a while now in modeling.
