Rat Ears?

I know they can be farmed in newbie zones pretty easily but I'm curious what was the reason for removing them from the 3? vendors they've been on for several years?

Maybe to give the newbies something to farm for baz resell plat? Just a guess.

Because they can be used in some quests for gains that are not expected/desired and being able to purchase an unlimited quantity was being abused. At least that is my impression from the previous patch that was removing them until a future expansion for TLP servers.

According to this post: Fixed Internally - Rat Ears are gone | EverQuest Forums (daybreakgames.com).
This is now a permanent change on all servers.

Developer Mrtyu said:

It was a little known exploit, but you could combine sow pots with purchased (only) rat ears and create an XPII potion.

How is it different from Muffins or Bone Chips?

they are next on the list to be removed from vendors......

It all depends on how exploitable they are on a TLP server to either level or gain faction.