It may sound like the boring option, but to emphazise what has already been said, it is far better to focus on the intuitive parts of your solves; particularly if you learn CFOP or Roux; as opposed to learning exotic or even just the standard alg sets. It will benefit you in the long run rather than learning 2LLL and averaging around 30 because what you will end up doing is having to go through your intuitive stages again whereas you might as well get into the habit of working on optimizing them earlier.
It will also be easier to improve faster from a major alg-needing barrier like sub 15 if your breakdown is favourable:
Note: These breakdowns are exaggerated to illustrate my point, in most cases, a breakdown will be a moderation of each extreme.
Favourable(3 Look last layer but good intuitive section):
Cross: 2 sec
Cross + F2L: 9 sec
OLL 3
PLL 3
Unfavourable(2 Look last layer but bad intuitive section):
Cross 3 sec
Cross + F2L: 11 sec
OLL: 1.5
PLL 1.5 sec
Notice how in favourable breakdowns, the algorithmic parts of the solve are a lot more time-consuming, but the F2L shows signs that the user has a better understanding of how the cube works and has given it due attention. For a solver conforming to this breakdown, the most likely way they will break 15 is by learning 2LLL at this time, when they have a better understanding of the cube and drilling PLLs, which let's face it is pretty easy to do, in the process knocking 2 secs off LL and only a small improvement in F2L, perhaps by learning X-Cross techniques.
However, for a cuber conforming to an unfavourable breakdown, to break this barrier, they will have to drop at least 1 sec off cross and 2-3 secs off F2L, which requires a massive rethink of how you join and insert pairs or how you plan your cross, and the task of making this new approach stick.
In conclusion, you can see how an average of 16-17 can be achieved through a favourable progression or an unfavourable progression. Both these approaches require initially a similar amount of input to get to this point, but an approach focusing on cementing a fast, fluid and efficient intuitive section is positioned to more readily improve than that of someone who relies on advanced alg sets to compensate for neglecting their bad intuitive parts. An analogy could be that building a house from the foundations upwards, starting with getting an efficient cross before learning full OLL is superior to starting off with building a bedroom, then a kitchen and trying to connect the two before trying to slot foundations underneath; or learning full ZBLL at sub 40 whilst still having a 10 second cross.
, Petrus, and Fridrich are all viable options and you will get faster over time. Tis the cuber not the cube or method.
