A full price Tokyo - Aomori ticket is 17,670 yen one way, or Tokyo - Akita is 18,020 yen varying a bit with seasonality. A round trip to either of those would be still be cheaper with the 30,000 yen Tohoku pass. So yes, it absolutely can save you money, although not as much as before and not for shorter trips like Tokyo - Sendai rt plus local trains there.
And also it might not save money compared to 'normal' discounted tickets from the JR websites since some of those can be 10-40% off normal pricing. Those do tend to have have advance purchase requirements, less flexibility, and aren't always foreigner friendly (Japanese website only or requiring a Japanese address).
The JR Central ones do seem quite bad, but I don't think they made sense for most people even with the old pricing.
For Tokyo/Osaka-Tohoku (Aomori, Akita, etc.) the JAL Explorer Pass fare is 5500 yen, so for foreigners it would make sense to fly rather than taking the train if they are only visiting 1-2 cities in Tohoku. Or they could pair these flights with the Tohoku-South Hokkaido pass (which wasn't nerfed as much and is valid for an extra day) depending on the itinerary.
I'm quite pleased I got to use the Ise-Kumano-Wakayama pass at the old rate earlier this year
