Well, update on this.
For whatever reason, Ford wanted me to pay upfront to troubleshoot the vehicle, which they then said if it meets the eligibility for warranty work, etc... they would reimburse. I didn't want to gamble on that, and I thought it was strange to say the least.
Anyway, determined the heater core has to be at fault, no other explanation. So I said screw it, I'll do it myself.
I sourced a new heater core and spend the Sunday with a friend changing it out, which yes, involved removing the dash. All the labor was the dash... it took me 2 minutes to swap the cores. Upon closer inspection, you could definitely tell the old heater core was made with cheaper stuff. It even look cheap, and surprisingly enough, there was a considerable weight difference between the two, leading me to believe it was definitely clogged.
Dash reassembly was faster than removal, and everything fit as snug as before, so kudos to Ford for at least designing it with easy remova//reassembly in mind. Total time it took was 6.5 hours.