Ever since I stumbled upon Dogens youtube channel I have been interested in pitch accent and have considered becoming a Patreon. Since I don’t have a steady income I can’t become a Patreon. I find his explanations on subscribers Japanese very helpful and his comedy sketches are funny too.
But other than that, my pitch accent studies have been just to repeat what the native speakers says during shadowing and by that I mean I repeat what miss Nihongo no Mori says in her N1 lessons. I literally use her just for listening practice and shadowing along with a few other youtube channels and anime/dramas. I’m nowhere near N1 grammar hahaha I found a WaniKani add-on that shows pitch accent during reviews and lessons, just visualizing the pattern and hearing the audio play helps me notice the pitch and makes me try harder.
I also think that pitch accent is important to at least notice if one can’t produce it in their speech. As you said, if one is not careful, one can sound a bit wonky even though they can be understood from the context. And also, if you are trying to achieve fluency, in my humble opinion, pitch plays a big role in sounding native. Just like with English. US, UK, and Australian English have different accents and pronounce some words differently, I have been told that I mix American and English pronunciation sometimes. It’s what happens when you are exposed to both at the same time I guess.
Have fun studying and good luck! 
