Apparently enemies drop better loot on the harder difficulties from a thing I saw.

Is it worth playing on Lower difficulties or will enemies having better loot make the game overall more fun?

Ultimately you get all items on all difficulties. I wouldn't worry about loot. Instead make sure the game is not too difficult for you.

I started on Easy and moved to Normal then Hard and kept playing there. But I was a complete noob when I started. If you're familiar with tactical strategies, start with Normal.

You might get some more drops from the increased number of enemies on the hard difficulty, and even more from the increased number of counterattacks. But as for pre-placed map items, they do not vary between difficulties