I was under the impression that NWN was dead in the water after a series of disgusting moves by Perfect World to squeeze the gwailo for every penny they could, and the users abandoned it in droves.
Although, it is probably true that DDO is handcuffed by WotC... Not necessarily over NWN in particular, but because DDO runs on the 3.5 rule set (nominally) and that really bothers WotC because that ruleset is defacto public domain with their IP stamped on it (re: No control).
It also doesn't help that every developer/IP holder in the world wants to cash in on the supposed ocean of mobile gaming micro-transactions in China. Even Blizzard fell into the Chinese honeypot trap (or ActiVision, however you like to frame it).
I think these developers will be very disappointed when the Chinese companies they hire to code or interface with the Chinese Bureaucracy steal everything in their IP that isn't nailed down before before building a brazen knock-off game with their pilfered materials and running away with every last renminbi (which China will allow because the PRC takes a VERY dim view of their money leaving their borders).
DDO v2.0 is long overdue, but I doubt that SSG or any similar studio will ever win a bid for the license to develop it, which is sad.
Even as a 12 year old game, DDO has a lot to offer compared to other MMOs, despite it's plethora of glaring faults.
Edited: When I say "sad" it's not about SSG not being the developer, but because it would just get handed off to slave labour in China and be reduced to time gated p2w micro-transaction Hell.