I do appreciate the original Bioware, but I still don't see that kind of illogical reasoning being a factor in DRM. But... we will see shortly what will be, right?

That announcement relates to the NWN cd-key verification used by multiplayer and Persistent World servers, not the premium module authentication.

As has been made clear above, the current system is that a connection to the authentication server is still required for premium modules, but that any requests are validated allowing play (assuming you can connect) regardless of whether you purchased the modules or not.

Once that server shuts down, those premium modules will become unplayable unless EA/Bioware provide a DRM-removal patch.

Given that they can't be bothered keep a virtual server running, I can't imagine they'd put in the effort to create a DRM-removal patch.

Much more likely that a removal patch will come from a third party; possibly GOG could do it, or a modder from the NWN community. Sadly, it's entirely possible that this may be the end for those premium modules.

While it appears that certain premium modules will no longer be playable due to lack of authentication, there are still tons of incredible modules out there free for the downloading (from the Vault(s)) and playing.

I just wanted to remind everyone that nobody will lack for available adventures just because a couple become non-functional. :)

While this is certainly true in spades, it still means you won't be able to access content you actually paid for. This just further illustrates how DRM screws over the paying customer. Ugh, I need to stop now before I go on a rant...

Dude this is GoG. Nobody here is going to argue with you.

The Diamond Edition includes special .dat files that skip the online check for the Premium Modules it includes; the modules seem to be the same as the BioWare Store ones (the check returns if the .dat files are removed). It might be somehow possible to reverse-engineer the .dat format to skip the check for the other Premium Modules.

Of course the ideal solution would be for GOG etc. to be able to update their versions to include the missing modules but that's probably not going to happen at this point.