I haven't done hard mode yet but I sort of think that the problem here is misdiagnosed. I used to run VoG normal and hard and Crota normal and hard multiple times a week for many weeks. Most of those runs, I came out no better than when I went in. In fact I never got the complete crota armor set until HoW dropped, which was frustrating. Why did I keep doing it? I was trying to get the armor, yes, but more importantly i wanted the unique raid weapons, some of which only dropped in hard mode, and exotics. I think the problem with the current raid loot is that the weapons are basically the same for hard and normal with some cosmetic changes (correct me if I'm wrong), just at a higher light level. It's never going to be as exciting to get the same gun you have, which isn't that great to begin with, just at a higher light. Nothing like how we lusted after Fatebringer and WoC and the Vex. Just a guess as to why I'm a lot less motivated than I was then.