Since I’m not a great mountain biker I would probably hire a good coach for a couple hours and do a lot more with what I have then if I had just purchased a new wheelset or something.
Just a thought.
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That is actually great advice!
Those are some seriously aggresive tires for a 22mm rim. I’m not familiar with the Spank wheels mentioned earlier, but a set of Stan’s Arch or Flow (depending on your weight) would also be a massive upgrade and make those tires behave the way they were intended.
Nah its fine. The tyres come in 2.3" which should be ok on 22mm rims. I run them (or 2.4" tyres) on 23mm Hope rims and they’re incredible. 
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No on Stan’s, or at least no on the hubs. Spank makes a nice anchor. I laced up several Light Bicycle wheels to dt 350 or 240 hubs with sapim cx Ray’s and they are bomber. I really really like the dt xm hoops if you want to save a lot of money and like the aluminum ride quality. (A little more forgiving)
22mm internal is way to narrow. I run 2.23 knobby nics on Ibis 741s with 35mm internal width on my non boost pivot Mach4 and Mach 6. Something closer to 28mm is ideal.! But that’s just me.
Every bike I have ever bought, the first upgrade has been the tyres. Almost always by necessity, because manufacturers spec cheap low end versions of decent tyres.
It’s the cheapest upgrade to lower weight too
I’ve got the neo hub, and have had several other high end rear hubs (DT Swiss and King) and I feel they are perfectly fine. Spin better than the kings, as the kings have a lot of friction. I’ll see how much better that improves with a service but that is a common knock on them with their really high POE.
I basically just bought the new stans freehub body with the higher POE and a lot of play in the engagement was gone.
As far as your wheelset, if you are constantly needing to true your wheels I would suggest that you go with a 32 spoke hub/rim combo and do not get lightweight spokes. Just my opinion right now, as you might have similar problems with a lightweight (even if alloy) wheelset, but that stronger wheelset may be just what you need for more consistent and confidant riding. Alloy rims are not much heavier than carbon, most lighter sets do it by reducing the number of spokes and using double butted spokes and aluminum nipples. So sometimes the weight penalty is worth it if it fits your needs.
Another potential disadvantage of high POE hubs on full suspension bikes is the suspension feedback (I.e. when the suspension compresses) is almost fully transmitted to the pedals. I don’t hear this talked about much, but after Aaron Gwins famous chainless win at Leogang, GMBN did a chain/no chain comparison, and in that video, I think Neil mentioned manufacturers have investigated ways in the past of disconnecting the hub altogether for downhill eg using a lever on the bars. Lower POE hubs are effectively “disengaged” for a larger fraction of the suspension compression than higher POE hubs.
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just as a point of comparison… since I am planning on buying a 23mm internal width race wheelset. Stans is suggesting 2-2.25 tires for that rim size. You can almost always run bigger tires than suggested, but the bigger tire won’t perform as it would on a wider rim, much like a tire that is too narrow for the rim would behave a bit funky…
My arch MK3 that came with my bike is a pretty solid wheelset, in the promo video on their website, the trails they’re riding look a lot like the local trial system that I usually ride. Very chunky rock gardens, almost no single track.
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The sweet spot for XCO/XCM as of now seems to be about 25+/- mm inner diameter that allows a nice range for tire optimization.
I defy anyone to notice 1.27mm effect on performance. That could be tolerance in manufacture or tyre pressure 
Which difference, the tire size or rim width. I’m pretty confident a 2.4 or 2.5 inch tire will behave differently on the next rim up like i was suggesting going to a 28mm internal width. 1.27mm is a difference of .05 inches but nobody suggested a 2.3 tire.
Edit… seeing your post was for dh minion in 2.3
WIthout getting too hair splitty, the gross gains of a 2.3 on 23mm up to a 2.5 on 28mm and all that is in between is pretty marginal. Unless of course you’re at the very pointy end of elite racing. 
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If you ask me money best spent is to always save some budget for fresh rubber. With so many tires the performance suffers long before they look worn and you don’t notice until you’re on new ones.
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Tires by far, there are plenty of tire reviews out there. Find the ones that fit ur traction vs rolling resistance needs. Very very few tires do both well. People who say a minion rolls fast have never ridden an xc race tire. That said people who say xc race tires grip turns really well have never ridden a minion. You many not need all the grip in the world for your courses etc, but if there are lots of corners and you can carry more speed thus accelerate less out of the corner you will save energy and possibly go faster than riding a crazy semi slick xc tire. Got to experiment. Wheels for sure carbon vs alum meh I have both. The biggest thing for fast feeling wheels is a quick hub and highish spoke tension that’s where almost all wheel flex actually arises from. Try to actually bend an aluminum rim that’s not laced to a wheel they are pretty stiff offering little deflection. Carbon yes less deflection ( cus the are stiff then crack ) but it’s marginal and I gautentee in a blind test no one would know what thet are on assuming equal spoke tention. The tire deflects is an order of maginitude more then the wheel is structurally capable of, no one can say “ ya that rim is stiffer when it deflects 1-2 mm but the tire compresses a CM or more ( note road is more an issue ) Carbon rims tend to be lighter so yes less inertia which is nice but it’s $$. Most large rotors are very helpful. The harder you can brake the longer you can maintain a high rolling speed prior to a corner before shutting it down. Rotors are cheap , & add minimal weight. Very few reasons not to go 180 even 200 up front. No the pros don’t do that but none of us can take a corner the speed Nino does we mortals slow down much more than those guys. Get a proper MTB fit and your suspension dialed. Oh and yes a dropper post!