I just thought of a way to check: archive.org.

It does indeed show that favourites were available from the user page: http://web.archive.org/web/20130501115607/http://www.flickr.....

As a result, I removed the paragraph from the OP. This is what it read, to anyone visiting just now:

    In addition, your favourites are now a single click 
    away for users in the redesign of your user profile. 
    It’s entirely possible this was the case before, though.