Hickory: The servers have been
offline since June, 2014. And they DO work without authentication. I have never generated keys like you suggest, and I am able to play offline just fine.
Of course, any modules that you have that came with '.dat' files will work offline just fine(like KM, SG, and WW). But unplug your internet and try to launch one of the ones you don't have a '.dat' file for(check your 'premium' folder to see which ones you have).
The auth server is definitely still online. That script in the page I linked to connects to 'nwmaster.bioware.com' to get the decryption keys.
EDIT: Don't feel like making a new post for this:
Hickory: Granted, nwmaster.bioware.com is ping-able, but that does not mean it's functional for authentication. Why would Bioware state it's offline if it is still functioning?
It would take 5 seconds for you to verify that the server can do more than just respond to pings. For example, watching packets with wireshark while trying to launch a premium module, or modifying that script to dump any packets it receives. It's clear that you don't care and just wish to spread misinformation, so there's no point in trying to explain this to you anymore.