Lost Ark is free-to-play, but in-game purchases are available for supply chests, exclusive pets, Crystalline Aura perks, and more. While some of the available items can help you progress through the game, non will give you any PvP advantage.
Starter packs are available in the Lost Ark store, they provide players with several contents including 30 days of Crystalline Aura. These packs were very successful and, although the game was completely free to download, thousands of packs were sold. The most expensive costs $64.99.
Shroud invested around $2000 in Lost Ark
Better known as Shroud, Michael Grzesiek is a Canadian YouTuber and streamer, formerly a CS:GO pro player. When Lost Ark was released on North American servers, the streamer described the game as "one of the most boring games he's ever played" . He has since changed his mind and decided to get into the game properly by buying a starter pack…then two, then three, then 10 and so on.
In the video, Shroud is seen talking about his spending on Lost Ark and check his Steam purchase history.
Since February 14, Shroud has been streaming 8 hours of Lost Ark per day minimum so it looks like he changed his mind.