What makes you think that Easy mode was what set the bar and Hard mode just had hitpoints increased? Perhaps Hard mode was what they intended the game to be like and for Easy they just lowered the hit point totals.<p>For all the people complaining about how horrible Hard mode usually is - what should it be? Everyone seems to say - they just make the enemies have more hit points, or add more of them, or make them aim better. What do you want hard mode to be?<p>I would think that to make "easy mode", first you tune your game for the hardest setting. Then, you start progressively removing obstacles, turning up player advantages, turning down enemy advantages, etc for your easier settings.