These days running into other players is far more common on the Expeditions due to all the players having the same goal and quest pathing, but you still bump into real people the closer you are to the galactic center in the regular game modes.

In terms of the ‘boring samey planets’ when was the last time you played? Because with the current terrain generation, water effects, gas giant systems, fully submerged worlds and new fauna/flora generation I’ve yet to find any planets that were identical.