Definition of Cast and Channel

Myaxua - Dreamweaver

I think I have some idea of the difference between the two, but could someone explain precisely what the difference is between them?

I just want to be sure I'm making sense of the cast and channel times on my skills!

Thanks!

RainKilganon - Lost City

Channelling is the time it takes to get the skill ready, in other words, the time it takes the status bar to fill on your screen. Casting is the time the animation after channeling takes to complete, or the time between channeling and when you can use another skill.

Solandri - Heavens Tear

Channel delay is the time between when you press the spell button and when it fires. It can be shortened with channeling equipment.

Cast delay is is the time between when the spell fires and when you can do something else (cast another spell, move, melee, anything). You can do nothing during this time.

Cooldown delay is the time between when a spell fires and when you can cast it again. Note that it runs concurrently with the cast delay (they both start after the spell fires).

If the cooldown delay is not a factor (is less than or equal to cast delay) and you are spamming the same spell, the time delay between subsequent casts is the channel delay + cast delay.

Yindra - Sanctuary

Channel+cast is also the time until you can do something else. So the genre-usual "casting time" is "channel+cast" in Perfect World --- the time it takes to cast the spell.

Which is purely a technical thing --- I suppose they split it so they can add "reduce channeling time" without speeding up the casting animation.