I didn't see this announced anywhere, so excuse me if this is a rehash. It seems that shopkeepers have started hiding their coins better to make them less of a target for thieves. Even though they seem to have plenty of money to buy things, no matter how much money they have, I can only rob them of a few copper or maybe a silver piece.

City ties thieves give up a lot in the ways of PK skills so they can have a ready source of income from stealing. With the loss of shopkeepers as a source of funds, then city ties thieves become no better at accumulating money than other thieves unless they opt to learn fence. Even if they learn fence, that still doesn't really make up for it even by a longshot. Robbing players of coins is not really profitable either, since I'd do better by just killing them and taking it (except that city ties thieves have little to offer in doing this alone).

I'll agree that city ties thieves probably had it too easy before when it came to getting money, but this seems to have gone to far to the extreme. Is there an official reason why shopkeepers can no longer be robbed? Maybe there can be a middle ground where there is more risk, or less reward?

I didn't see this announced anywhere, so excuse me if this is a rehash. It seems that shopkeepers have started hiding their coins better to make them less of a target for thieves. Even though they seem to have plenty of money to buy things, no matter how much money they have, I can only rob them of a few copper or maybe a silver piece.

It made sense for the more profitable shops and shopkeepers to start utilizing the bank to store their excess coinage. Larceny in their shops was pretty rampant.

City ties thieves give up a lot in the ways of PK skills so they can have a ready source of income from stealing. With the loss of shopkeepers as a source of funds, then city ties thieves become no better at accumulating money than other thieves unless they opt to learn fence. Even if they learn fence, that still doesn't really make up for it even by a longshot. Robbing players of coins is not really profitable either, since I'd do better by just killing them and taking it (except that city ties thieves have little to offer in doing this alone).

I wouldn't say shopkeepers have been removed as a source of funds, because they haven't. What I would say is that the funds that can be obtained by stealing from a few choice shopkeepers in Galadon has been reduced.

As for robbing players of coins not being profitable, I will say this: a lot of players carry a lot of coins with them, and stealing those coins is a lot easier than killing them.

I'll agree that city ties thieves probably had it too easy before when it came to getting money, but this seems to have gone to far to the extreme. Is there an official reason why shopkeepers can no longer be robbed? Maybe there can be a middle ground where there is more risk, or less reward?

As you said in your first paragraph, shopkeepers can still be robbed, just not for as much as they could before. We track all sorts of economy statistics and will continue to tweak things here and there as we see holes in the system. If we see that this particular tweak has gone too far in the wrong direction, it's simple to nudge it back a bit. Thanks for bringing it to our attention; we'll keep an eye out for the city ties folks.