Actually making changes to the SQL while the servers are still running is exactly what they do for some hotfixes, due to the way the databases work, it's the fastest and easiest way to roll out some of the needed fixes, and yes they get quickly internal tested before the database updates are imported, but they do that in batches, so this is still a very fast fix, they are not having to change the stats on the item, but just the 3 implanted #'s.
The only reason they are still broken is because they want them to remain bad items for as long as possible it seems.