I was thinking maybe to help new players get used to the game, have players help them out.

They could have a mentor.
Players can set themselves to "Mentor" status. Where when a new player starts the game, they are assigned a mentor. (One that is online).
This mentor can answer questions, and help with advice with other things.
There would be no reward for these mentors. But they might have like powers to see the location of the new player, so they could help find them if they are stuck or need help.
Also maybe allow them to trade a few items to them. (Yes I know can be exploited, but remember its random who gets to be the mentor).

Also a channel to the new player, and mentor could open up so they could type /m to talk to each other instead of typing /w name text.

Also the mentor status can be turned off at anytime, also would auto turn off if no actions were done say for 10mins.

After 24 hours of play, or new player chooses to turn it off, they we be removed from that mentor. Mentors could only have 1 new player at a time.

Dark Ages of Camelot had something like this.