*UPDATE*
Drove down to the dealership to grab a couple things from my car that I needed. Spoke to my SA and he informed me that the tech found a couple things that may be the issue.
Here she is under the knife:
When the tech removed the spark plugs from the drivers side head, the #7 cylinder spark pulled right out as if it wasn't even threaded in to the head. The tech noticed the spark plug appeared to be stripped at the end as well and the tech also mentioned that the threading that the spark plug screws in to is also stripped. How it got like that, the dealer and I will never know.
Here is a pic of the spark plug:
The tech also noticed the spring inside the COP on the #7 cylinder/spark plug was recessed a great deal more than the other COP springs.
Here's a pic of two COP's showing the recessed springs. #7 cylinder/plug is on the right:
At this point the tech is attempting to repair the threads on the head(which I'm not too crazy about this method of repair). I feel it will ultimately happen again considering the amount of pressure/heat the spark plug sees. Then again, I didn't get a good look at the threads inside the head. If they are only slightly cross threaded then possibly running a tap through it could work I guess.
All cylinders/pistons on the drivers side have been bore scoped and showed zero signs of damage.
The SA did say that if the tech couldn't repair the threads perfectly, then the dealer would do a emergency overnight order for a new head to replace the damaged one I have under full warranty.
From what I have gathered. If the spark plug was in fact loose, the ticking sound I was hearing at idle was more than likely the exhaust stroke exhaust exiting out of the spark plug valley. It seems the loud clacking sound I experienced at WOT had to be spark plug blow out(literally) since the plug was so loose. The one thing I can't make sense of for the life of me is why the ticking sound completely went away for over a day. I'm also pretty amazed it never threw a code and drove/idled as well as it did for having a loose spark plug.
It's obviously too soon to say this was in fact what caused the ticking sound and loud clacking noise at WOT but it does make sense in quite a few ways.
One thing is for sure though. The dealer is fixing what ever needs to be fixed under warranty and not out of my pocket.
When I asked the tech why he didn't lower engine to pull the valve cover to save time, he responded "Bro this is warranty work, I make more the longer it takes, lol". Kind of bugged me that he didn't care how long it took to get it done, on the other hand, I was just happy to hear that they are willing to replace anything that it needs under warranty.
I later confirmed with my SA that everything will be under warranty and they have no reason to not warranty anything on the car.
I should have a update in the next couple days or by the end of the week with the final outcome.
-Nick