I don't see where it is proven that these changes could only have been made due to EA.
That they WERE a response to feedback doesn't mean that they REQUIRED the feedback to be made.
And who is to say that act1 wouldn’t get polished without EA, and act2&3 would still end up weaker for reasons.
It is also an extended development. Like, we literally know this. Act 1 alone had the same amount of active development time as Acts 2 and 3 combined.
Do we know this? How do we know this?
Even if it was true, it still indicates nothing. As act1 (it seems, we don’t know it for certain) seemed to be done first it’s “active” development would also include building up infrastructure, technology and tools with which all of the game is build (again, assuming Larian didn’t attack the game at some point from multiple angles, overlapping the development of the areas, as it can happen). That first bit of content took most time to make, shouldn’t be surprising.
