I’ve always been curious about this haha. Guess being P2P and always pulling HoTMs even when I started in March 2019, I just never got around to ascending vanilla 5* to 4/80. I’ve got 6 at 3/70 but that’s where they’ve always been.
That being said, I only have 25 fully ascended 5* (all HoTMs/event heroes) and soon to be 30 once I finish off this next set.
Just wanted to know if there were other people in the same boat, or if I perhaps took a weird approach with this game by avoiding vanillas.
I started last August 2020 playing and I just started my first one Marjana, I have 16 fully leveled 5*'s
I’m not P2P, but as someone whose maxed 5* are mostly classic S1 5*, I probably would do the same as you if I could!
I also don’t have any season 1 5* heroes fully leveled but I think it’s because they came so late in the game for me and there was always someone better to work on for my roster. My first 5* was lady Locke and then bertila. I was so excited to get Justice but then came Alice followed by QoH. I just got my first Vivica ever a couple of weeks ago and she will forever be at 1/1 
. So I don’t think your the only one but maybe the circumstances regarding why season 1 5* are still at 3/70 might be different for others. I spend some money but not nearly to the caliper of the"whales" 
If I could afford it, I would leave all Classic 5* heroes at 5* 1.1
Currently, on my 2017-Sep account, most of my Classic 5* heroes are 5* 1.1, 5* 2.60,
7x at 5* 3.70 and
Vivica b.5* 4.80 ( I failed chasing Delilah / Gazelle / Guinevere / Prof. Lidenbrock / etc. for years ) and
Magni b.5*+1 ( after chasing Athena/ Alaise / Vela / Ariel / Miki / etc. for years - actually got Frida hence Magni b.5*+1 )
See Also
([Community Content, Essay] Do not click or HotM Sadness)
FIN
I levelled Vivica, Marjana and Lianna basic versions , I started this game as very C2P in Feb 2019. My first Hotm was Musashi which I got from Atlantis portal from cheap deals 
I am C2P (very!) And have been playing forever…so have maxed all the S1…almost. Since I don’t spend much and also don’t have super luck pulling 5*, I deal with what I have.
But, and it is a big but, once you play for a long time as a f2p or c2p, you accumulate mats faster than good 5*. I always waited until I had at least 11 of the critical mat (tonic etc) before levelling a classic 5*. Ie don’t waste them
Does this mean you don’t have any S1 5* costumes? The costumes might have lost some of their value in time due to power creep but there are 2 costumes that are essential in the roster of a P2P player: costume Marjana and costume Leonidas. Depending on your preferences, costume Kadilen, costume Obakan and costume Azlar are also great costumes.
Don’t exclude all S1 5* costumes because their non-costume forms are mediocre, play with them at 3-70 and see if they fit your playstyle. You might be missing out on some very useful heroes in other aspects of the game besides defense.
I never worried about where a hero came from, only if they were useful to my play. I still use 2 costumed S1 in main defense with great results.
New shiny isn’t always better.
IIRC @RandaPanduh has yet to max ANY 5*. She has them all at 3-70. That still blows me away.
No S1 5* all the way up to 4/80.
5 up to 3/70: Kaliden, Marjana, Sartana, Joon, Magni. Will move Lianna to 3/70 once I finish working on PF.
Unless I get the costume for the 3/70 heroes mentioned above, they will otherwise sit at 3/70 in the foreseeable future.
I also realize that I have not ascended any HOTM released after the Vela & Telluria drama to 4/80. Although I do plan to move Devana to 4/80 right after c.Leonidas assume no other holy heroes cut the line.
Oh that’s similar to me actually, as Frida was my first 5* and then I was lucky enough to keep scoring the HoTM each month that kept pushing my vanilla heroes back of the queue. And I actually only scored my first Vivica a few months ago and my first Sartana a few weeks ago, I’m pretty sure I finally have them all now. Thanks for sharing your experience 
Oh that’s interesting Looks like you started about 6 months before I did, haha yeah I also started very C2P and I definitely spend more now than I would like to. But I’ve got such a backlog of non-vanilla 5* to ascend that I don’t think I’ll ever get to the vanillas unless I pull their costumes, which have continued to elude me!
Oh right that makes sense! Yeah I think after I took a hiatus and came back, I became a bit of a whale trying to catch up on all the new heroes so now I’m in a situation where I have more good 5* than mats available. Good strategy though waiting until you have an abundant supply before levelling a classic
Oh yes sorry I should have clarified that I haven’t been lucky enough to pull any S1 5* costumes, despite how many times I’ve pulled in that portal. If I had, I’m sure some of the costumes (as you mentioned) would be extremely useful to use!
Sorry I forgot to mention in my post that I haven’t got any S1 costumes, just their OG form. That being said, do you find yourself using many of your non-constumed classic 5*?
Oh wow really! Is that because she doesn’t have the mats or because she wants to focus on 3* and 4*? That blows me away too haha
Ah right I see, okay guess you’re in a similar situation to me then and very selective on who you take to 4/80. Oh yes Devana is great, I took her to 4/80 recently and she super useful for her dispel. Thanks for sharing
