There is not a lot of difference with hard. As long as you know the normal strat. Add a few nights at orex and a exploding guardian at golgoroth it's the same.
Only did the normal about 3 times on my main, after that it's been hard mode, but now I only go as far as the challenge mode for that week. No other rewards makes any since and is a waste of time at this point.
To me none of the loot seems worth it. It's only 10 levels above normal, and unlike other raids, you can get all the guns in normal mode. No burns, and no outstanding weapons means no hardmode completions for me.
I question that statistic. It seems like it would be based off of every player who has ever had a Destiny account. Meaning that some people who have never actually purchased the game and just borrowed a disc to try it out would be in that number.
If it's based off of [i]active[/i] accounts then it would be accurate.
If the latter is the case and you want to go through the raid and have yet to do so, and your light level is around or above the 290 mark PM me and I'll set something up for Friday Febuary 12 around 11pm EST. Have a mic, and be willing to listen and follow instruction. Everyone has to participate, there are no passengers in this raid. My suggested weapons are Sniper Rifle and Machine Gun, other than that use whatever primary you are comfortable with (other than hand cannons, I can't see them working all that well, there's a fair bit of mid to long range shooting, but if that's what your comfortable and good with go ahead. We probably won't get through the whole thing, but I can get you started. If you'd like to see the later part of the raid instead I can see if someone would be willing to give us a CP.
You may find that with the light increase in the spring update that more people will attempt it, I will wait till then, I just want the trophy the weapons will be worthless by then.