Many thanks to all the contributors. The takeaway for me is if getting a wheel built (esp. by hand), go with the best components that you can afford to meet your expectations. This credo also applies I think to many things on a bike. For touring especially, component failure in the middle of nowhere has a high cost. Additionally, butted spokes if given the option would seem the way to go.
Seems like spoke "ping" can happen due to just one spoke falling outside of the quality control parameters and it thus becomes the weakest link. Always wondered at that bend in the spoke, seems like that would be the weakest point.