The point of the EA was $ pure and simple. So that ongoing BG3 sales can finance the development instead of Larian having to spend the money upfront. As you can see on the many changes introduced right now without ever touching EA shows that it never was about getting feedback.
You completely misunderstand. The early access and the final game are different builds...even just Act 1 in the final game will be about 33% larger. Which they won't release to avoid releasing more spoilers than necessary. And most of the heavy rebalancing is done late in development before release. Most of the development is made up creating all the maps, characters, mechanics, and ensuring they work correctly. Once the final game is mostly in one piece that's when the final bug-fixing phase and final balance considerations come into play. They didn't just put something in early access to sell copies and keep people occupied. They have genuinely listened to a lot of feedback and a lot of changes were made because of player feedback...there were 9 updates to early access where it was clear they implemented a lot of changes based on player feedback.
