u/CheddarSkeleton

I've only updated through the updater tool, how does manual updating work?

If I reinstall, how does it affect my instances?

Here's how it would go:

Korra returns to Republic City, and the Red Lotus catches word. Of course, Zaheer wouldn't have had airbending at this point, but maybe in this version they haven't been arrested yet and attempt to kidnap the avatar. Korra lacking the experience would attempt to take them on, but would need the help of others to send them to prison.

This leads to the Equalist movement growing from behind the scenes. They could add onto the idea of freedom from the Red Lotus, and their leader being a non-bender recently arrested by the Avatar could be the flame that sparks the movement from becoming popular. This would lead to Korra questioning some of her actions, leading to the internal conflict we see in Season 1. From then, it would play out similarly as it did in the show.

Part 3 now would have unrest in the Earth Kingdom, and Kuvira's empire growing in popularity. The main difference would be that without the spirits in the Earth realm, Kuvira's power would be limited, but that the civil war in the Kingdom would cause evil spirits to appear.

This leads into the last chapter, where relentless conflict in the world would cause spiritual unrest, and Unalaq reaching out to Korra. She tries solving the issue with him, but ends up playing out the same events in the show, and the show ends with the spirits in Republic city and elsewhere.

There are a lot of gaps with this order of the story, but I think that if the show went this way, it could have been extended a few more seasons with the Red Lotus breaking out from prison from harmonic convergence, and maybe even a different military power attempting to use the spirits for technology.