>Does this change affect the success rate of the skill hitting
>or the actual affect of the skill (more or less -str/dex on
>bone shatter etc)?

Magnitude of stat loss and duration.

>I've always wanted to play the dexy dagger/mace combo. Guess
>its too late for that now!

I think that's still probably a pretty good combo -- being a mace spec who dodges well is still great. But, now there's a bit more of a tradeoff.