In episode 100 of Stoked Al Rivera was demonstrating the quad cannons for the defiant variant. Around 26:50 he says "these quad cannons are leveless and the highest damage cannons in game". My question is will these cannons be c-store only or available through in-game means?

My money is the penultimate reward for the new DS9 FE.

A) If they really are that powerful then that has rendered all existing cannon equipment obsolete.
- So Cryptic have rendered those purple endgame gear inferior. No Chance

B) None of the special rewards have been that superior to endgame gear
- They have special gimicks that have some utility but nothing that makes them endgame material

C) Quad Cannons would and should only be fitted on the Defiant Class
- If this is the end reward then Cryptic have basically shafted everyone who dosent run that class of ship. Failing that the Cannons will be limited to ships that can fit cannons, again shafting folks that operate non-cannon ships.

D) Cryptic's reputation is abysmal
- I'll believe these cannons are worth having when I see the actual stats, not before.

I disagree. I'll go with your second sentiment - they only belong on Escort class ships.

I have Zero faith they will be made properly; that is balanced.

IIRC he said that it was what the defiant got instead of a console ability.

as for how they'll be available, probably the same way the antimatter console was. so c store points you either buy or trade dilithium for.

personally, i can't wait. i love them and i want them now.

i just wish they'd shown the interior...

Funny thing about the word 'highest' (along with 'best', 'most', etc). Technically, as long as they're equal in damage to whatever's the current highest damaging cannons in the game (emblem,crated ones, etc), then yes they're the highest damage cannons in the game along with the other cannon(s) already in the game.

He might have just said it as it is different from the other Featured Episode rewards which are normally better than some in-game items, but definitely inferior to the crafted/emblem ones. Of course, he could also mean that these cannons are just plain better than whatever we have now. Considering Cryptic's streak, i'm leaning towards either the former or that Al just had some poor choice of words in the interview.

If quad cannons had the same base DPS as regular non-heavy Dual Cannons, but fired twice the number of shots (each shot doing half as much damage), then they would proc twice as often as Dual Cannons, which would make them marginally stronger than Dual Cannons. Make them [CritH][CritD] or [Acc][CritD] blue items with no other extra bonus, and they'll be powerful enough to be "better" without being massively overkill.

Quad Cannons are the trademark of the Defiant just like Multi-Vector Assualt Mode is the trademark of the Prometheus. By your logic all escorts should get MVAM, not gonna happen.

This makes no sense. The Antimatter Console and MVAM were sold on new ship varients.
A new Defiant varient is going to be sold on the C-Store with a Quad Cannon Item ?

Thus this weapon is going to be restricted specifically to Defiants and has to be purchased via the C-Store. Cant be a FE reward then. I will not be amused if Cryptic literally decide to put super cannons on the C-store as part of a ship class. That is utterely disgusting Have-To-Pay-To-Get-Best-Gear marketing.

highest damage does not automatically mean they have better dps. they may have massive recharge times.