Granted, this is coming from someone decked out in the best gear and all the talents unlocked, but it would be nice to see chapter's 1-4 toughened up a bit on Old School mode. Chapter's 5 and 6 seemed to be just about right in toughness factor.

Well I dont think your suppose to be fully decked out. I'm in middle of Chp 2 and it has been a bit more difficult that hardcoe. Had all starting gear excluding my bow which was the crystal bow that got downgraded to 30 damage from 150.
Best thing to do if you want a challenge I guess is to do Crucible.