As far as ticking goes, don't bother switching to a heavier weight oil unless your weather conditions justify it. You would only be masking a symptom of the problem. Switching from conventional to synthetic can have positive effects however. I'm a valvoline guy, I have never used anything but valvoline, probably never will. Not that its inherently better, but its what I like.
As far as lifter tick, it could just be that they are out of spec like mine were. After I adjusted them, they quieted right back down and I got a tiny bit better gas mileage (i'm talking an average 20 miles extra per tank, over 20 ish refills)
If you arent comfortable doing it yourself, most shops will to valve adjustments on these engine fairly cheap as its real easy to do on the smaller 5.2s. Don't bother with having them resurface or replace anything, that requires the heads to be removed to be done properly, and it costs a lot more. If it doesn't there may be something wrong with that shop, or they are low balling you to trap you for when they 'run into problems' that are actually just part of a regular valve replacement.
If a valve adjustment doesn't quiet it down, then you may need to have the heads pulled.
