This may not be the most ideal solution, but I think it would help in improving players' chances of getting houses and decrease disillusionment among the players: instead of releasing only three wards at a time, release them ten at a time.

Would it take longer to release plots? Probably. Would it stop the post-maintenance chaos? Probably not, but it would make it a bit more manageable, and would help make getting homes easier for players, especially with the new "1 house per account per server" rule.