Looks like some teams that lost in the third CL qualifying round like Fenerbache and Rangers have gone straight into the EL group stage, but others had to go through the playoff round.
I think this is about right.
There's a massive difference in the highest and lowest ranked teams in each pot. Elfsborg started as unseeded in the first qualifying round. I'd much prefer them and Riga to Bilbao and Besiktas in terms of quality and travel distance.
Pot 1:
Roma, Man Utd, Porto, Ajax, Rangers, Eintracht Frankfurt, Lazio, Tottenham, Slavia Praha
Pot 2:
Real Sociedad, AZ Alkmaar, Braga, Olympiakos, Lyon, PAOK, Fenerbache, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Ferencvaros
Pot 3:
Qarabag, Galatasaray, Viktoria Plzen, Bodø/Glimt, Union Saint-Gilloise, Dynamo Kiev, Ludogorets Razgrad, FC Midtjylland, Malmø
Pot 4:
Athletic Bilbao, Hoffenheim, Nice, Anderlecht, Twente, Besiktas, FCSB, RFS Riga, Elfsborg