My league had an 8Q difference after the draw. Last Season there was 1 team 15Q adrift and others were all relatively close. Both were non-friends leagues
For the league draw imo Friends are King but, like me, you can miss out on friends in the league if 'other' friends have stronger linkages (and if you have a smaller same lvl/same server friends list - I had the same 6 or so friends for 5 seasons and chopped it back).
In a non-friends league quality will play a part, probably a big part - I think location might too. After all, my non-friends leagues of last 2 seasons tended to be European with a. n. other (or 2) thrown in. This Season its 13 European teams + 1 Jamaican.
But an important aspect regarding quality is there is still the 'numbers game' - if you have a team which is a common quality then the spread is likely to be less. With the occasional waif and stray thrown in.
But I don't know, just saying.