I think your understanding of failure rates is lacking. Reports on issues on forums should be taken in stride. My current truck is my 4th EB engine, and I have had one powerstroke engine and I have never had an issue. And second to that there is warranty that will take care of the small amount of people with issues. There is no way that I would ever look at a very under powered (relatively) 6.2L engine in a super duty truck when the Powerstroke engine is available to me. If it were to have an issue, that's what the warranty is for. Same thing with an EB engine, why would I take the 5.0L when the EB is just an much better performing engine. I don't care that a few people have had issues as all engines have had issues. I just choose to get the one that preforms the best, and let warranty take care of any other issues.
FWIW the only engine I have had issues with was the 5.3L GM V8 in my Avalanche I had. It was smoking and I had to get the valves replaced, but it was covered under warranty.