Assos is not the end-all-be-all of shorts for comfort.

They have GREAT workmanship and materials, and that's what you pay for. But unless they specifically fit you best, they are not necessarily the best bibshort for you.

I agree roughly with the OP's pointers, but honestly, with training, you can adapt to most bike shorts, even the cheaper ones. I wore $35 Canari shorts that had virtually no pad, and were 2 sizes too large for half a year, riding close to 150mpw with routine 60-90 mile weekend mountainous rides of 4-6 hrs successfully. The Assos I got were a better fit in size, but the thicker pad didn't help at all at that point, since I'd gotten my rear end used to riding with a thinner pad. Actually, I had some initial problems for 4 weeks with new chafe spots with the Assos that I weirdly didn't get with the Canaris.

Triguys training for Ironman races routinely do 112+ mile training rides in a triathlon-style kit which only has a thin fleece pad - less than 1/3rd the thickness of an Assos bib pad. And most of them do fine once they're used to it. (Train in what your race in.) So pricey bibs aren't necessarily required, although I'd definitely avoid the cheapo stuff just for durability sake.