Is Overwatch coaching worth it? What a coach can and can't do

Overwatch coaching costs money, and no coach can play your games for you. So is it worth it? It depends less on your rank than on what you expect from it. Here is what a coach can and can't do, from ALright, who has coached solo players at every rank and an OWCS roster.

What a coach can't do

• Promise you a rank. No coach can, and ALright doesn't. Anyone who guarantees a rank is selling something else.
• Play on your account. That's boosting, not coaching. ALright never asks for your login and never plays on your account. Blizzard's rules ban both.
• Do the practice for you. The one player ALright turns down is someone who wants to win without putting in the work.

What a coach can do

What he promises is the process: he watches your games, finds what's really going wrong, and leaves you with fixes and a direction for what comes next.

The value is in what you can't see from inside your own games. One player he coached put it this way:

“A coach notices things you don’t when you play and Alright noticed my mistakes very quickly and helped me improve.”

tavi, on Discord

Most of those mistakes aren't aim. ALright's view is that most people treat Overwatch as a shooting game and only practice their aim, when composition and team play decide most fights. He builds a solid foundation first, then guides you toward the style you want.

Who it's worth it for

• Players who are stuck and can't tell why. A second pair of eyes finds the pattern.
• Players willing to practice what the notes say. Coaching gives you the plan; the climbing is still yours.
• Any rank. ALright coaches from Bronze through Emerald to Champion, and any role. Tank is his specialty, because it's what he plays.

How to check a coach before you pay

• A record you can verify. ALright's coaching history links to Liquipedia, so you can check every line yourself on the coaching record.
• Sample notes. You should see what you're paying for. Here is what ALright's notes look like.
• Clear prices and refunds. His are on the home page and in the terms.
• Safe for younger players. At ALright Coaching, sessions only happen in the server's channels, never in private messages, and players under 18 need a parent or guardian's permission.

Start small

The cheapest way to find out is to try it. The 15 minute fit call is free: tell ALright your role, rank and what keeps going wrong, and you leave knowing which package fits, or that you don't need one yet. After that, a VOD review is $15 and a live 1-on-1 is $30.

Photo: “1st SOPS prevails in esports championship (4725556)” by U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class William Tracy, via Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). Cropped and resized. Shown for illustration; the people pictured are not affiliated with ALright Coaching.