Ok, so they made a mistake. Yet, if you had done just a bit more research yourself, you could have saved you the gil as at least BG-Wiki mentions this on their Empyrian upgrade page and even the update notes mention it.
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...l=1#post545504
(I must admit however that oldWiki is a bit vague regarding this.)Reforging to item level 119
The items required for reforging empyrean armor to this level can obtained in Vagary.
* Players must first receive a designation earned through Vagary in order to reforge Empyrean armor to item level 119.
Having certain requirements to progress in gear is quite commonplace, I don't see why that would be an issue.
By the way, you can do Vagary without having completed a single chapter in Seekers of Adoulin and also get credit for the boss kills.