I tested the new Burn today against COT and Nemesis. Tank was lvl 40, foes were range of -2 to +2.
Better than 80% of the COT ran out of the patch and did not come back into melee range. This was the same whether I laid down Burn first or whether I used BA, Whirling Hands, and/or Taunt before laying down Burn. A small number of COT would yo-yo in and out of the patch. The Nems (who are reputed to be resistant to fear) only ran about 50% of the time. The rest yo-yoed in and out. A second application of Burn, though, caused them all to take off and not come back.
One application of Burn took a non-running +2 minion to about 25% health. That's a noticable damage reduction but not intolerable. The Fear changes, though, make this power a real problem. I suspect I'll drop Burn after I5 hits. *sigh*
I had been waiting for the other shoe to drop on Fire tanks after I5 hit and it seemed that we managed to dodge the worst of the bullets therein. I guess after seeing lvl 50 Sonics on the Test server the devs decided their anti-herding actions weren't enough, hence the new Burn nerf. As a tank who does not herd up 8-person missions or PL, I'm kind of annoyed that I'm getting punished for other people's actions.
I'm also annoyed that the devs (specifically Statesman) can't be honest enough to come right out and say "We think you're overpowered, so we're nerfing you" instead of halfassed excuses like "well, wouldn't YOU run away if you were burning?" As with the issue with Controller pets (where Statesman later had to apologize and backpedal from his original 'not working as intended' statement) this shows a distinct lack of respect for player intelligence.
I think Statesman ought to read "The Cluetrain Manifesto" and take a few of its lessons to heart.
AND stop nerfing Burn. 
To it plain and simple I could not be more disappointed in these changes. Mine as well rename the game to City of NerfÂ’ing. Many of these changes have been implemented to prevent power leveling, not make the game more balancedÂ…LAME!
I believe the Devs are out to completely destroy the tanker AT. I'm fairly sure they'll succeed. The taunt minimum is way too low and unlike controllers we don't have a ton of tricks up our sleves. We have a taunt and an attack to generate aggro. That's pretty much it. You could dip into another pool and get Provoke but I consider that stupid.
It's much better to build a controller/bubbler or sonic and be able to help the whole team all the time.
Tankers who wish to adapt should quit or roll Defenders.
They are the only AT given the job of protecting the team. Every other AT is unworthy of that job becuase only defenders matched the developers original intent.
Oh come on... fire tankers were already ballanced. The power of burn was offset by the fact that it was boring as hell (no pun intended).
Myself and several others I know scrapped our burn tankers for that very fact... its not fun.
These changes were totally unnecessary, especially with the upcoming changes to herding.
You devs just don't know when to stop
I have faith in the devs, and will continue to do so until they seriously let me down. Nowhere in the Issue 5 patch notes is it mentioned that they changed mob AI to avoid Burn even when taunted. Therefore, I firmly believe it was an unintentional change that they just have not fixed yet. I understand that many do not believe this, and are treating this as the 'new Burn' rather than only considering the changes listed in the 7/28 patch. Still, devs, I strongly suggest you drop us a note saying either 'Changed mob AI: Enemies will now avoid Burn patches' or (and, I feel, more likely) 'This is a bug, and we're looking into it'.
But every time this has happened before, it was corrected quickly, and while I wish they'd prevent it *before* it hits test, I doubt this'll stick.
Now. Concerning the damage and recharge change... I'm still going to test this, see how much adding a few recharges improves matters, but even as is I don't see a huge problem. Burn is still greatly effective as an 'alpha strike' power, critically weakening any minion within punching range and putting the hurt on anything else. No, you can't murder minions outright anymore, which means you'll have to use your other attacks more often. I know I speak for very few people, but I find that a better option than being a Burnbot all the time.
Please move immobilization protection and toxic resist into the shield powers.
Devs,
Riddle me this....
Which group runs away faster?
a) The mobs in COH when Burn is turned on?
b) Your current subscriber base when Issue 5 is turned on?
I have a fire tank who likes to use Burn. But then I also have a storm defender who uses Freezing Rain. I hope you see where I'm going with that. Anyway, I can finally say
HALLELUJAH!
(OK, actually I said that two weeks ago when the AI change came in, but now I have a thread for it.)
Ever since Issue 3, I was thinking you had a blind spot to the most abusive power and therefore the most abusive AT in the entire game. Now I can respect your balance attempts as serious.
My test results: One burn patch, one application of Whirling Hands, and ongoing Blazing Aura (not slotted for dmg) will take out as big a pack of even-con minions as I can find in under 30 seconds. For +1s it took another patch (about 40 seconds total) which depending on the villain type may or may not require a second herding, but that's not a problem.
A Fire/Ice tank, which has already been very FOTM, would get even more use out of the burn patch.
I think the changes are fine. If you're going to scale back on any of the changes, keep the instant-fear of the AI intact, but increase the patch duration. I would actually say double the duration and half the damage again, but with the current AI that would actually be another nerf now wouldn't it?
The only thing I'd like to see for Firey Aura is knockback protection in one of the powers, which would not be out of line now that the sets best utility power has been reduced. If CJ/SJ/Acro stopped being a default choice for Fire tanks, I think you'd see more variety in the long run.
Well thank you for placing the last nail in the coffin. The mob scatter effect currently on live is bad enough for burn, and now you take its teeth out and make us gum villians to death. [censored]. Have you even looked at the damage the ice melee does? its so freakin minimal, the only way to make ice melee worth while for a tanker is too use the fire primary just for burn so you can actually do some damage. You all should give everyone an AT respec now that you have screwed over everything. We should be given an option to re-choose our primary and secondary sets after this POS goes live. No I dont mean change from tanker to scrapper, but I would like to be able to drop ice melee now that burn is ruined and I can do no damage with ice since its utter crap.
Or maybe you all just want everyone to leave. wtg if thats your plan.
To all dev's,
You guys say your have a vision of balance and fun, when hundreds and hundreds of pages of posts about how your "vision" is making this game less and less fun. It seems every character i make , gets nerfed at some point. Everything i enjoyed about playing that toon seems to be the first to go. I delt with the first nerf to my /regen scrapper and it was fine and then another and then another now he is shelved.... and now that I choose to play a firey aura tank.... bam the most fun thing about her was burn and now? a 30+sec recharge time on a fire/ice tanker turns it in to a meat shield that can't take as much damage as other tankers? and thats your vision of fun? You are nerfing the fun out of this game, and yes like an above post.... take advice from blizzard bring up the AT's that are lacking instead of nerfing everything else to bring them down in line.
This was needed, thanks-- tankers shouldn't have had access to arguably the most efficient DPE and DPS in the game, AoE at that. Burn was ridiculous, and people shouldn't complain about not having access to some of the best resistances in the game AND the best damage in the game any longer.
However, if you don't remove the fear component, this takes away a lot of the flavor from the Fire tanker set; Fire tankers -should- deal a lot of damage in exchange for having weaker defenses. I think it's in line to "readjust" mob AI, remove the fear component, or what have you, to balance Burn in this respect. If Fire tankers can't atleast effectively use Burn, the set has no value appeal over any of the others. I think the previous amount of Fear associated with Burn in Issue 4 was reasonable; perhaps increase that a degree, but right now, Burn is absolutely useless.
Fire tankers should be a combination of respectable damage, with medium resistances.
Well, here's my new build - maybe I can be more use to my team like this.
Exported from version 1.5A of CoH Planner
http://joechott.com/coh
Archetype: Tanker
Primary Powers - Ranged : Fiery Aura
Secondary Powers - Support : Fiery Melee
01 : Scorch acc(01)
01 : Fire Shield damres(01) damres(3) damres(3) damres(5) damres(5) damres(7)
02 : Healing Flames hel(02) hel(7) hel(40) damres(43) damres(43) damres(45)
04 : Taunt tntdur(04)
06 : Temperature Protection damres(06) damres(9) damres(9) damres(11) damres(11) damres(13)
08 : Swift runspd(08)
10 : Aid Other hel(10) hel(13) hel(15) hel(15) recred(17) recred(17)
12 : Plasma Shield damres(12) damres(19) damres(19) damres(21) damres(21) damres(23)
14 : Stealth defbuf(14)
16 : Invisibility defbuf(16) defbuf(33) defbuf(33) endred(33) endred(34) endred(34)
18 : Hasten recred(18) recred(23) recred(25) recred(25) recred(27) recred(27)
20 : Super Speed runspd(20)
22 : Aid Self hel(22) hel(48) hel(50) recred(50) recred(50)
24 : Resuscitate recred(24) recred(39) recred(40) recred(40) hel(48) hel(48)
26 : Health hel(26)
28 : Stamina endrec(28) endrec(29) endrec(29) endrec(31) endrec(31) endrec(31)
30 : Grant Invisibility endred(30) endred(34) endred(36) defbuf(36) defbuf(36) defbuf(37)
32 : Phase Shift endred(32)
35 : Stimulant endred(35) endred(37) recred(37) recred(39) recred(39)
38 : Hurdle jmp(38)
41 : Whirlwind endred(41) endred(42) endred(42) kbkdis(42) kbkdis(43)
44 : Conserve Power recred(44) recred(45) recred(45) recred(46) recred(46) recred(46)
47 : Focused Accuracy endred(47)
49 : Fiery Embrace recred(49)
To be concise, the burn change is horrible. Absolutely insane. I have to wonder if the devs actually test these changes themselves under varying circumstances.
I'm livid. However I'm going to try and refrain from castigating and actually ask a reasonable question.
If you're going to make burn such an impotent power, why not just simply reform the power as another shield itself with knockback and immob resistance? And if you're feeling the least bit generous allow it *some DoT in melee? At least attempt something to break the cookie cutter builds.
Maybe that's reaching a bit, but y'know, the sky's the limit.
I have yet to test the dmg or the fear affect of burn.. reading these changes that are being posted I had a thought now mind you it is just a thought..
make burn a Toggle.. that way you have on the constant immob defense.. make the cost like something .15 real low.. and make the dmg able to be delt a constant such as +2 to BA.. now than make the slots available to be DMG ACC ENDRED TAUNT..
and as for fire sword circle make that attack have a knockdown.. so you see no burn patch another BA and a knockdown to keep the enemies close to the tank .. hence the def and blasters do not get attacked..
good idea bad idea .. but still an idea..
Katala lvl 50 fire/fire tank
Well here is my one post. I will state my thoughts and provide an alternative that would be very viable, but as pretty much every other viable player idea, it will be tossed aside.
If burn was so over-powered, someone please tell me why (on live) my level 28 max slotted fire shield/ ba / 4 slotted ps / 4 slotted hf 6 slotted burn and fire sword wielding tank died 4 times in a row in a invinc level 30 Council mission while teamed with 2 blasters, a storm defender, and a warshade?
Oh thats right because I didn't have a "real healer" or "true buffer / debuffer" to keep me standing enough.
Instead, it was all about standing around watching everyone snipe until there were 3-5 mobs I could safely tank for the team. I guess the level 30 guy should have lowered the difficulty to heroic because there wasn't an invul/* tanker to team with. My poor burn patch didn't serve me very well.
As we all well know, fire/* tankers have no defense powers in their set, no HP boost DP like powers, no KB resist, and immob in burn. Now burn will do less damage, take alot longer to recharge, and still has that nasty fear effect.
Why not change burn to something else. Keep the BI, make it a click, and atleast lower the recharge some. Say stays on for 10 sec, and recharge is 30. Now its not perma for perma-hasten builds. Which I expect that this and many other changes to powers in various other sets in longer recharge times is a back-door nerf to hasten. My guess that either my making hasten non-permable or lowering the effect of the recharge would really tick everyone off and have them screaming on the boards.
Anyway, make the power wall of flames. A click power fire-damage aura that surrounds an area at a 10' radius around the tanker. All mobs between the tanker and the wall suffer fire DoT. Any mobs that flee through the sheet of flames or take additional dot damage for a shorter duration of time. Keep the BI for mobs inside the wall the same as on test, then give the mobs running through the wall (in or out) a DoT BI of 3-4. Max # affected still 10.
Move immob resistance somewhere else in the build. Preferably, plasma shield.
Here is to hopeing a dev responds that *something* was fixed with burn so we can all get a second responce.
wow, you've managed to nurf every aspect of the original "burn". Is it really a good idea to remove the fun from the game? I'm disapointed to say the least. 
Ah cuppa, the bearer of bad news. Im sorry.
Also, perchance you should start a new dev response thread, you know:
Dev Response - Cryptic Salary Changes
Changes -
Increased the recharge time of Paycycles. Decreased its paycheck size.
You know, mill [that] over, See if that makes any sense to states, cuz that's what's going to happen when i5 hits as is.
Seriously, do you guys think up the worst possible changes in meetings and throw them onto test? All of these changes you're making, make no sense at all.
[ QUOTE ]
Changes -
Increased the recharge time of Burn. Decreased its damage.
[/ QUOTE ]
More B.S. !
i would say more but would be the same things ive said in the invul threads. 
we have to take the devs point of view:
just accept the "vision" or cancel your account. Either way "the devs are happy with the changes, thank you for your input" 
The damage and recharge changes to Burn are fine, it was overpowered and is more inline now. Only thing I'm concerned about is the AI reaction to burn, they run after taking approx 90 points of damage at level 50, my fire sword circle does 254 with no buildup. If the mob is immobolized you do around 370 damage which seems fair for the longer recharge and unbuffable damage of burn but until the AI gets changed it'll not be worth it for the 90 damage it does.
The changes are unacceptable. I see two choices at this point. Change Burn AND the AI back or offer the AT respecs. You've ALREADY de-balled the tanker with the defense, taunt, and AE nerfs. Now you've gone from the jewels to the jugular on your Fire tanks? Did I miss the patch note part where I5 planned to keep the game fun? It won't be if you keep homogenizing your ATs and losing focus on why your game has been successful despite its subscription numbers.
The only reason to nerf Burn is the obsessive Anti-PLing/Herding mentality that has pre-occupied you beyond imagination at this point. Don't think us naive in surmising the nerf to Burn was designed to balance ANYTHING but AT jealousy and your egos. That overpowered Burn sure was turning the tables on opponents in the Arena, wasn't it?
It's all about PLing and Herding. And while many other articulate players have given you similar alternatives to curb this, you STILL have no comment on:
1. Making missions repeatable only so many times.
2. Steadily reducing the experience for mobs in missions being repeated until there can be no more experience gained until mission completion.
3. Making aggro distance changes. Despite taunting powers, no mob will follow a herding hero greater than a set distance from his spawn point.
4. Making villain group buff modifiers . The more villains being herded, the harder they become to defeat. Give them leadership buffs or some random variety of powers they wouldn't normally possess alone.
5. Fixing the stacking code. Not buying your excuses. Only so many Freaks should fit in a dumpster.
I no longer care how flippant or hypocritical you think a sizeable portion of your player base is when they say they've had enough of this BS and are considering leaving. My family and I own 4 accounts that are keenly observing your noose tightening. You aren't doing anything substantive to retain your core players - us. You don't get it, Jack. There are other MMO fish in the sea. What makes yours the better catch? The comic? 
Your changes to Burn, AE attacks, taunts, and tanker defenses because of PLing and herding after OVER A YEAR in motion go too far and are still simply unacceptable. Your I5 changes aren't cool, you STILL have no comment on HOs, and the new power sets, Croatoa, and CoV aren't enough to offset what you plan to do to our fun. Our endurance is getting low, sir - and you aren't offering any inspiration.
With the current change in damage and recharge on Test, Burn should become a normal AE Dot. Any mobs standing in it when it is cast get the full effect whether they move out or not. They're set on fire, heh. Since the Endurance, Recharge, Animation time and Damage of the power has finally been brought into some sort of balance with other damage powers let's quit fooling around with the fear effects that get broken every time the AI changes.
What to do about mobs that move into the Burn patch after it's cast? Not sure, don't really care, they can take partial or no damage.
i think the burn changes are in line with the other tanker nerfs in I5.
wow, so thats how it feels to be a fanboi. i kind of feel icky.
Finally got around to doing some good testing ...well ... thats relative ...I dont test often ..bear with me ..
Setting: Lvl 50 fire fire fire tank with Even level SO's.. PI lvl 50 mobs of scientists and or nemesis .. usually just one but the numbers dont fluctuate between 2 of the same minion /lt/boss so thats not as important ..
Slotted for Damage and replaced gradually with recharge...(no stopwatch sadly but i got a pretty good feel for the downtime) average of between 30-40 ticks of damage (assuming 30 for total damage values) No Hasten btw (more on that aftewards)
Results ..
6 Damage 360/300
Live 12 dmg / Test 10 Dmg ....wait time excruciating
5 Damage 1 Rec 360/270
Live 12 dmg / Test 9 dmg ..recharge increase not very noticable
4 Damage 2 Rec 300/240
Live 10 dmg / Test 8 dmg .. recharge a little better still too long
3 Damage 3 Rec 270/210
Live 9 dmg / Test 7 dmg ... recharge livable
2 Damage 4 Rec 210/180
Live 7 dmg / Test 6 dmg ... recharge much better than none at all (of course)
1 Dmg 5 Rec 180/120
Live 6 dmg / Test 4 dmg
0 Dmg 6 Rec 120/90
Live 4 dmg / Test 3 dmg ....what downtime?
a nice sweetspot seems to be around the 4/2, 3/3, 2/4 range
which is also somewhat true on live ...pre I4 anyway when stacking them was worth while
Perma hasten just got a lot prettier for fire aura tanks ... with FE's recharge being increased and the myriad of other powers that benefit from it ..including another build up from the secondary ...RotP .. healing flames .. consume ... APP's
the fear thing ...is a colossal pain in the [censored]
the change doesnt bother me that much I will continue to roll fire tanks ...cause thats how I roll ...but this fear thing is just mind numbing ... its hard to do any testing at all unless youre 41 and have a hold
the damage needed to be toned down a lot ...for some time now ...or the acc ...or the end even ...the recharge issue im kinda meh about ...I dont like it ...but I like it more than some of the other alternatives ...
coupled with the Aoe limits though ..the damage and recharge are more than enough nerf for one tired old power ... make it so we can "gauntlet" them back into the patch ...and put the poor old thing out to pasture
I have to admit burn tankers WERE overpowered. Nerfs hurt... but learn to adapt.
lvl 50 fire/rad troller