Our group has come to a very difficult time. Many of our members have begun to have some long term (several months) commitments that do not allow them to go in game as often as they have in the past. Due to school, work and family commitments, we’re not able to get all five of us in game for content as often as we’d like.

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This is something that many groups, if they choose to play as we have, will face. By making the choice to level together, we have, in fact, limited what we can do in game. We’ve tried very hard, and pretty much managed to succeed in staying together. We’re only a quest or two apart on the epic story (Volume I and Volume II) and we haven’t done many dungeons without the full group.

I know that many of you will say that the cure for this is found in alts, and for me, that mostly works. The rest of the group, however (save Isanni) isn’t as interested in alts as I am. I completely understand their point of view though. They have invested a great deal of time into their characters, and want to continue having those characters progress. For them, and even sometime for an altaholic like me, I just want to play my main character. I want to get that class quest done, or work on some deeds. Unfortunately, most of those get me experience, and I’ve already out-leved the group, and I don’t want to be a lvl 65 character playing with lvl 52 characters. Where is the challenge (for them and for me) in that?

So, what we’re doing is getting together in small groups when we can. We’ve run some of the quicker 3-man dungeons in Eregion when only three of us could be on. We’ve worked on some quests that are not connected to Moria or to the Epic Quest Line when not all of us are available. I have, of course, continued on the Skirmish Experiment.

When this happens to you, there are a few things that you need to keep in mind if you want the static group to stay together:

  • Be understanding. Although one member of the group may have some free time one night, their increased work- load may simply have put them out of the mood to play. That’s OK! Let them recharge their batteries, and next time you play, they’ll be happier for it. Pressure them to play and no one will be happy!
  • Have some boundaries as to what you can and can’t do. We’ve tried to keep the Epic Quest Line as our group goal, so we try to stay away from those when we can’t all be on.
  • Get some pots, food, etc, that you can share with those party members who can’t find enough time to get on and craft/buy those on their own.
  • Enjoy the time that you do have together!

Following those guidelines has helped to keep our group focused and happy, and we’re still enjoying ourselves and each other’s company. I’ve seen situations in the past where people were pressured to play, and in the end, someone either left the group, or left the game! I would hate for anyone in our group to get so frustrated that they stopped playing LOTRO, so I’m going to do everything that I can to help those of us who are overwhelmed with responsibilities.

What do you do to help your friends when their lives get busy?

See you in-game!