When I joined in 2010 (I was 15), I kept silent, didn't look at live LHO button and tried to figure things out myself. However, one of my first people contacts was with Nithy Juzz and My Brute. They helped me crack the shell a little. I was trying to figure out the Broken Pattern Gazebo when those two started chattering, eventually got me to chat as well and it was such fun randomness that I came back for more the next day and so forth. It was just so very different from the usual MMORPG banter yet a little bit more familiar than the ongoing roleplay of veterans in MD at that time.
Combat-wise, the first person to help was MasterB. Although Dark Demon and Sunfire helped me learn more of it some years later, MasterB helped get a grip on the basic basics.
And Indyra, Zleiphneir and Draconas were the ones who helped me get into roleplay.