I rolled a fire tank before I rolled my brute as well, but I ended up going back and deleting the tank after I got into the brute. Fiery Aura is plenty survivable as a tank, but I still think /fa is better on a brute for some odd reason.
It probably has a lot to do with what you mentioned in your post- for my playstyle, brutes and scrappers benefit more from secondaries geared toward increasing damage output than do tanks.
My fm/fa was the first villain I truly enjoyed leveling to 50. Sure, there were plenty of rough spots along the way. There were an equal number of defeats. RotP got plenty of usage along the way. But I am still pleasantly surprised whenever I play her and remember how much carnage she can unleash on anything she comes up against. Sure, there are more survivable options, but for me- the thrill of playing on the edge of victory and defeat is addictive.
Words to the wise aren't necessary- it's the stupid ones that need them.
"You're right...I forgot...being constantly at or the near the damage cap is a big turn off. Definitely not worth it."
- Vitality
(GOOD wtf.)
A few nights ago I created a fire/fire tanker because I never played one before. It was a lot of fun, it was a lot like playing a Scrapper with more hit points. I then created a fire/fire brute because I always create brute versions of the tanks I play...
...holy cow. The damage. The raw, unslotted damage...
Fury combined with fire is just downright scary, ladies and gentlemen. Terrifying. One-shotting minions? Dropping bosses after going through an attack chain once, maybe twice? Watching your damage field tick up as you build fury and having a lieutenant you hit once drop because of it?
wtf. That damage is addictive.
It will be interesting to compare the tank vs the brute when they both get to 22 and can start slotting the big kid IOs. Right now the brute is actually more survivable because of the sheer speed at which he takes down enemies, but I suspect in the higher levels that might begin to flip in the other direction. For the moment... yeesh.
Scrapper Jack (SJ/WP Brute), Sky Commando (WP/SJ Tanker), Curveball (Rad/DP Defender), and a bunch more.