Okay, so I've been level 50 for a while and not too long ago I saved up and bought the Sao Paulo class for the Quad Phaser Cannons [Dmgx4]; and now I recently got the Advanced Fleet Dual Heavy Cannons [Acc, Dmgx3] and I'm looking at the DPS and there is only a 1.9 difference?!?

The whole endeavor seems like a rip off now. Why would anyone bother to buy an entire ship for 1500 ZEN when 10000 Dilithium (roughly 63 Zen at 160 per) will get you a weapon with just 1.9 Damage Per Second less (out of hundreds or .3% less) with higher accuracy and a higher critical damage bonus that doesn't drain your engine power?

Quad Cannons need a major DPS increase (or SOMETHING) to be worth the expense. Am I wrong?

You are wrong. They are a vanity item at best, so that escort captains can feel like Ben Sisko, blowing those Dominion bastards straight to hell.

Because the Sao Paulo looks awesome compared to the Defiant skin. I ran the quads for a while before I got my fleet DHC. The quads also look and sounds amazing. That is all.

Adjournon, I understand what you are saying but I think you are overlooking a few important points.

First, as you noted you are comparing an entire ship with an individual piece of equipment. When you pay Z1500 for the Sao Paolo you are buying...

-A ship with premium performance for your Tactical captain and presumedly any future tactical captains you roll
-Additional costume parts for the Tactical Escort, the Tactical Escort Retrofit, and the Fleet TER
-Quad phaser cannons for any of your captains who want them (with a unique shooting animation)

By contrast, the 10,000 dilithium and fleet equipment provision you are spending for the AFDHC are being spent for a single weapons module.

If you don't want the costume parts, don't want the performance boost for your 30-40 level tactical toons, and don't want the account-wide access for the weapon, then the AFDHC is definitely the better choice.

There's another important point: by paying a premium, anyone can have the QPC immediately for any character that is high enough level to spawn the Sao Paolo (i.e. over 30th level and on the Fed faction). The AFDHC, by contrast, is limited to Vice Admirals and critically requires you to be:

A) a member of a fleet, and
B) have access to gear provisions and a tier 2 fabber that you presumably participated in earning.

In other words, the discounted cost of the AFDHC is also related to the fact that the devs are incentivizing certain behaviors (fleet membership).

Finally, there's the matter of infinity gear. The AFDHC is Mk XII gear and there is not reasonable expectation that it will ever improve in stats unless there is a radical change in the way the weapons are balanced across the board. By contrast, the QPC is infinity gear, which means that if/when (probably when based on dev comments) Admiral rank and Tier 6 comes out, the QPC is likely to advance to Mk XIV just as it (belatedly) advanced to Mk XII in Season 6.

Summary

You are correct that, compared side-to-side with the QPC and assuming the QPC is the sole purpose of buying the Sao Paolo, the AFDHC is a better value.

However, the Z1500 price of the QPC includes a number of other items. Some players will want these things and this will change their value judgment about the QPC; in fact, market research related to FTP in Korea revealed that cosmetic items were the main driver of FTP microtransactions.

TL;DR

You're comparing apples and oranges

1 more big up for the QC is that is proc rate is the Hughes in the game which most people overlook

I don't believe they do need a boost, they scale as you level and I believe as they drain engine power they therefore get a power based damage boost for higher engine power, that and th extra 2 hits per volley gives any tac buffs even more power

Here here! They are so much more than the Op makes them sound. They aren't meant to be the be all end all cannons but they still aren't bad to start out with...plus the sound fx is so awesome!

ok here is where im going to disagree with most of you, the QC are awsome but NOT for pvp, i use 1 QC, 2 DHC and 1 torp fore, and my DPS rocks especially if you are using cannon rapid fire, but i would deffo NOT use them for pvp

Procs are calculated by firing cylces and not per single volleys. So QC and "normal" DCs or DHC all have the same chance to proc.

You should have read the forums first, and THEN considered buying after...

This is really old news, and all the arguments have already been presented, at least 50 times before.