Thoughts on Relocation removal

[SchwarzwaelderTorte]

Bleh I was about to start a thread but it took so long to write there are already several lol

Here are my thoughts:

Like many people here I love the housing feature, and I was dissatisfied with how plot purchasing was being handled until now. It's a very frustrating, exhausting and time-consuming process.
So a lottery system is a welcome change! Everyone gets the same chance to own the plot they're after (if their schedule matches with the lottery schedule).

However, I'm concerned about the removal of the relocation feature.

Each housing area has its own uniqueness and internal architecture. So that is also a big choice when you're deciding where you want your house to be.
Until now, if you already owned a plot, by relocating you could bypass the internal timer. This gave you a significant advantage when a new housing area or ward was released, or when a plot you were coveting was free, as you could instantly move there.
In a lot of people's cases, it was a way to secure a plot in the hopes of moving to a better one in the area of their choice, even if that meant spending more gil (empty plot fee + relocation fee).

So, for example, I was lucky enough to purchase my small plot 2 years ago in Shirogane, which was the only plot available on my server at that time. I think I spent 6 hours clicking on the placard, and it was the third plot I was trying to get. The only reason I got it was in the hopes of an Ishgard housing area (which was eventually announced). It was a long-time investment, and I was happy to have a way to immediately move in the area I wanted.

The removal of the relocation feature, as far as I understand, means that this long-time investment is basically rendered null. So players who have worked very hard until now to get a plot with the current system lose that advantage.
Basically, we've all become new house hunters, even if we already own a house.
Of course, some people might not really care about where their house is, as long as they own one, but conversely, if I want a house in a certain housing area that is completely full, I don't really care about all the free plots in other housing areas.

So while the lottery system is absolutely fair for new house hunters, I find this a bit unfair to the players who had made preparations (and invested tons of time and gil) to move to a different housing area (be it Empyreum, or getting one of the plots left behind by someone who'd just moved there).
Is this something that the dev team has considered while designing the lottery system? Isn't there a way to give a slight advantage to current plot owners, like VIP lottery tickets?
Also, something that wasn't really mentioned: do you still get a discount if you want to relocate to the plot you're applying for, or do you have to pay the full price?