So he gave that advice in the context of a particular image. Iirc, there have been changes to the tone equalliser since (EIGF was added). But I sometimes have images where I really need to increase the dynamic range (a bit faking it, of course, as the original has very low contrast). Filmic alone doesn’t handle that very well.
I noticed he also changed the grey reference value to 24.68% (instead of the default 18.45%), something he later discouraged (see the filmic FAQ). Keep in mind that at that time the whole scene-referred editing was still “under development”.