I would radically change it so that a session for gaining experience wouldn't be longer than a Mafia game. These would be short, separate adventures, each time starting from scratch (or with the possible transfer of old characters, but as an exception, not the rule). A maximum of two locations, more often just one. Some well-defined quest that applies to the entire group. A dungeon or something similar... No multi-year shopping trips, nothing superfluous.
I've been suggesting this for a long time so that GMs don't get exhausted. We even had something similar, in the form of the Archives of Lёlek and Bolek, which were close in length to an average one-shot.
Another option would be to do it on Discord, as Ples suggested, trying to gather at the same time in the evenings and actively play in a chat format during that time, and then take a break until the next day.
But I didn't suggest that. I suggested simply moving from the forum to Discord, as it's more convenient there (especially battles will be faster), there's a dice roller right at hand, and everything is formatted more nicely.