No you can make an exp party. But you have to organize it, and it's harder than finding groups in FFXI was. Easiest thing to do is get 8 people all level 1 on new classes and go find a level 5 camp, you'll be level 5 in a blink, then move to level 10 camp (e.g. Horizon), 15 in a blink, then camp drybone areas, level 20 in a blink. In fact you can basically do 1-25 in one night like this especially if you participate in fates that happen to be near by your camps.