Other than the original Coils of Bahamut, SE has done a great job of making anything that requires a party finder to be optional for getting the story.
Or even getting the vast majority of rewards - wait a patch or two and the item level catches up; and you're only out a few pieces of glamour and titles if you don't do the more intense stuff.

... and whoever wrote that article is kind of insane for complaining about CT being required.