cluster do come with a transdorm node, so you can chage the rotational axis, move along that axis, you press insert and move the pivot, just like in any other transform node.

look at the article on alias.com.. weta basically ditched nurbs all together and went subD... Gollum in fact is a subD and right there says it all.

the warning is a maya 5 issue.. happens to me too, but still everything works regardless for me.