The only meaningful change is that the PQD waiver is no longer applicable.

The UA cards were a terrible way to earn UA miles before the status announcement (excluding churning SUBs). They are still a terrible way to earn UA miles.

The UA cards offer useful benefits for non-status pax, and few if any for status pax. This also has not changed, although if you are no longer able to make Silver maybe the Explorer card is more attractive.