You appear to be confusing two entirely separate things.
Not sure what the T&Cs said before but the current version is very ambiguous. We know the situation before was that you usually wouldn't earn any points for the nightly rates at all, although sometimes you would get lucky. Hilton has not said it would change this.
I agree the current rule is confusing and have e-mailed Lauren, the
HonorsRepresentative asking if she can clarify the situation when adding an Award stay onto a Paid stay. The rule did change because previously, it said points would not be earned and now it states they may be earned, not will be earned. That is rather vague.