Did patch 1.3 change the Lone Wanderer perk?

Question

The first time I loaded Fallout 4 after installing the latest patch the VDSG entry on the loading screen told me about the Lone Wanderer perk and said it applies when travelling without a companion or dog.

It's widely documented that in fact you do still get the perk when travelling with Dogmeat.

I've never seen this particular entry before, or never noticed it anyway. Did it always say that, even though actually it does work when traveling with Dogmeat, or did they "fix" the perk in the patch?

If it always said that, then it's just always been wrong, and the perk probably still applies when travelling with Dogmeat.

If it didn't always say that, and the text was updated for Patch 1.3, then that suggests to me that they also fixed the perk so that it no longer applies when travelling with Dogmeat (even though this isn't mentioned in the patch release notes).

Answer 1

Here at the patch notes as seen on the wiki.

They mention a couple fixes to other perks, but not the lone wanderer perk. Here is a list of the Gameplay Fixes section of the patch notes:

• General memory and stability improvements
• Improved performance when looking through a scope
• Fixed issue where player could warp to a different location when aiming
• Companions can no longer get stuck with radiation poisoning
• Fixed an issue where Vault 81 residents would not dismember correctly
• Big Leagues perk now displays calculated damage correctly
• Fixed issue with third person camera not displaying properly after exiting certain crafting stations
• Fixed an issue where subtitles would occasionally not update properly
• Effects will properly be removed on companions when items are unequipped
• MacReady’s Killshot perk now calculates headshot percentages properly
• Fixed an issue with NPCs getting stuck in Power Armor
• Fixed a rare issue with companions getting stuck in down state
• Second rank of Aquaboy now calculates properly
• Fixed an issue with resistance not always lowering the damage correctly when added by mods
• Icon xboxone Enabled number of characters available when renaming an item
• Fixed issue with player becoming dismembered while still alive
• Robotics expert is now usable in combat
• Stimpaks can now be used on Curie after the transformation
• Playing a holotape found in wilderness while switching point of view no longer causes the screen to blur or controls to be locked

Also, as CPerkins says in their comment on your post: "It has always said that" but I do remember something stating that Dogmeat was an exception to this perk... It's possible it was fixed at another time?

Also worth noting is that the Lone Wanderer wiki page lists that benefit as a bug.