You have to do COP because they used a COP NPC for the armor reforging. Deal with it. Doing the missions is part of the game. In fact, it's the point of the game in the eyes of the developers, they worked very hard on that story line and for you to not play it simply because it's old is insulting. I played from 2003-2007, until my linkshell leader (who had my info because i was guild banker) got my galka banned for RMT while I was deployed. They didn't have the notarized form option then and I had changed banks twice and couldn't provide enough info to restore him, by the time they had the notarized form, he had been deleted. I came back just before abyssea launched. The first thing i did after LB's was rank 6 for dyna, zilart missions for sky, then rank 10, then COP. I'm currently doing TOAU missions.
Take a deep breath, and remember it's not all about the rat race. Slow down and enjoy the game. COP is a snap now. It was soloable at 75 when they removed the level caps a long time ago, now at lvl 99 with ilvl gear and trust npcs? give me a break. It's just walking around. Go enjoy the wonderful storylines and beautiful scenery.