>>1921280I'd say it's not the most efficient way of doing it.
With 3x you'll get a very poor chainline everytime you try to use one of the overlapping ratios, so they're pretty much always a bad idea, which in itself makes 3x moot.
By contrast, with a 1x and 11 speeds, all speeds are usable, you get 0 useless gears and your chainline will suffer less on the extremes (which, again, will only happen when you're pedalling down descents or up very steep hills).
So, in my eyes, 3x is a product of rear derailleurs that couldn't take big cogs. Once we got there, 3x is obsolete. Whenever manufacturers stop marking up components, there's no reason for 3x to exist, and I'd argue 2x is reserved for road racers, 1x with a chain catcher for everybody else.
