So Shade Hands got an HUGE nerf. My opinion on this goes a bit farther than just about this specific item, but about the itens stats in general.
First of all, i personally like the idea of existing a few OP itens, specially at not very high levels. It’s fun to use these itens on new chars and they’re not affordable to everybody, so you must be either very lucky, hardworker or have a higher level char. It’s rewarding to level up the next chars a bit faster than the first one. I believe IMC is not against this mechanic or they wouldn’t allow to use the lvl 400 pet on new chars, allowing them to be carried 70 levels by doing nothing, which is not that fun imo.
Second, i think there should be itens with better stats for other reasons. I could level 3 of my chars to around 130 (and one to 200) without buying any new item, just using much lower level gear than i should, using whatever i got from drops/quests, which is very bad in general. I could have bought from the market? Yes, but there was no need at all. Game was not that challenging (for a second char) to require that. Itens, other than weapon, are not that important considering the trouble you have to get them (or money you’ll have to spend) in comparison to how much time you’ll use them. Maybe that will change with a lower exp rate, or level limit higher than 200, but i still think it’s good to have better and more useful stats on some equips in general. So even if they are not required, getting them will be worth it because leveling will go faster.
Shade Hands was really good, but nerfing 86 dark atack to 12? Oh common, I won’t even bother getting one, ever again.